Tournament of Souls: Darkness Falls
by LucienShadowMaster
Summary: Lucien was always just a smarter than average kid with one bad memory. But when he got better at dueling, things started happening. Strange things. As if life wasn't enough to deal with already.
1. Road to the Championship

Tournament of Souls

Chapter 1

"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." William Shakespeare, As You Like It 

Lucien had never expected any of this to happen. First his oldest friend, who had just arrived in town for a visit from her home in Switzerland, disappeared. The police had no idea as to what happened. Lucien had just arrived at the hotel to meet her. When he knocked on the door to the hotel room where she was staying, the noise of some small activity stopped. Then Lucien heard something like an explosion, and a great wind. Then light poured out from under the door as if it had just been turned on.

Then he had realized that something was wrong and managed to open the door, the lock had already been broken. There was no one in the room, and no sign of a struggle; just a wide open window and some torn up Duel Monsters cards. But caught on the window sill, on one of the decorative spears from the grate, was her bracelet. A bracelet that he still wears today, over a year later, hoping one day to be able to find its missing owner.

He toyed with the bracelet; or arm band as it had to be called if undue attention was not to be gathered. Lucien couldn't wait for school to be over. He may have been better at it than most, but that didn't mean he had to enjoy it.

The tests were a natural exception.

All during the school day, Lucien thought about Duel monsters. He thought of strategies and tactics, any way that he might be able to pull ahead of the crowd. School was no difficulty for him and he didn't believe it deserved his attention.

Finally, classes let out and Lucien headed home; to his books, to his food, and above all, to his cards. When he arrived home he started on his new deck. He always made new decks, he just hadn't made on that felt right yet. This time, he was going to use a deck that would force his opponent to deck out.

_How can I best make my opponent lose cards from their deck? I can always make them draw, but then they can use those cards. Card Destruction will help, if they have a big hand, they discard it and then draw that many cards. But it would help me get more cards as well. Cyber Jar will get five cards but then they will be able to use them against me. Still, to make them draw what is probably an 8th of their deck is no mean feat. Morphing Jar is a possibility. It will make them draw five cards, though discarding their hand. I also gain five cards so that's a bonus. _

He walked in the front door and up the stairs to his room. He dropped all of his stuff; homework would wait, it didn't really need to be done before Sunday night, or Monday morning when you really thought about it.

_And Morphing Jar #2 could make them lose high level monsters, spells, and traps if they have enough monsters on the field. Needle Worm will be one of the most consistent cards. That is five cards off their deck that they never get to use! Now I should get some cards to get rid of my opponent's hand. If I am going to make them draw, I should make them discard those cards too. There is a new card that I heard about, Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch. It will send one card from their hand when summoned. Then they will have to pay life points if it is a monster. But those cards won't make a deck… I need some kind of constant thing. Robbin' Zombie and Robbin' Goblin will work! But how am I supposed to deal the damage?_

Half an hour later he had finished a good deal of his latest deck. But he didn't own all of the cards this time. So he grabbed all of his extras and his spare cash and went down to the card shop (by bus of course, how else are those too young to drive with no adults waiting around to give them transportation supposed to get around?), both the best place to get the remaining cards, and the location of the local tournaments. There were of course rival stores, some of them had been bigger too, a few still were even after the recent renovation, but Lucien's card shop managed to be the most popular in the city by combination luck and force of will.

When he arrived, he looked around for his friends, but he didn't see any of them. This wasn't hard as he could number them on one hand. There was however a huge crowd in the middle of the room. _They might be in there. I would really rather not go into that crowd just to find out though. _So first he went up to the cashier. "Mr. Kiwasaki, I'd like to buy some cards."

"Why hello there Lucien, what cards do you want?"

"Well, I thought that I would get Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch and…"

After Lucien finished with the list of cards, Mr. Kiwasaki started looking through binders. And then he looked through more binders. Eventually he found all of the cards that Lucien had requested. "And that total will come to… 57.95"

"What?" exclaimed Lucien.

"Well, I could cut the monarch, and then it would just be 40…"

"Wait, I have a better idea. How about I give you a Byser Shock for Thestalos, and Needle Worm? Then I'll buy the rest for $30."

"That will work too, Lucien" said Mr. Kiwasaki calculatingly "How did you know that I had been looking for Byser Shock?"

"Because the prices of all of your mass removal cards are jacked way up; I figured that you were making a deck with them."

"Right as always, Lucien."

Lucien started to walk away, but noticing that the crowd was still there, he turned back. "What is that crowd here for anyhow?"

"I don't know how they knew, but you will find out momentarily, just take a seat in the back." Mr. Kiwasaki said and then hurried away into a back room leaving the cards Lucien wanted on the counter. Lucien grabbed them and left his money on top of the register. With another look at the crowd he reached over the counter and put the money in the register and at the same time took a discount coupon.

Stuffing it in his pocket, Lucien went to take a seat at one of the tournament tables. Mr. Kiwasaki appeared from another door, right near most of the crowd. He had a microphone and started speaking, "Take a seat, people, just take a seat. Everyone sit down!"

After everyone had complied, though a few had sat on tables he continued. "Now you might have heard that today's tournament would be more important than usual. Well it's true. This tournament will decide who goes to the State Championships! Now we have a representative of the board of directors of Industrial Illusions for this region who will speak to you about the new format for the Championships. Please welcome Mr. Dongard!" A man in a black business suit appeared in the doorway. He looked exactly like every other man in a business suit ever to walk the face of the planet.

As soon as he started to speak, everyone realized that he sounded just like most business men too; he spoke in a dreary monotone that would generally make a good lullaby. But at the moment, the duelists that made up his audience were attentive; or at least as close to it as they would get if he didn't start giving out free money; though with this crowd rare cards might do better.

"I bet you are wondering what is so special about this tournament. It is as the owner of this store has told you, the qualifiers for the State Championship. Instead of the results being decided in matches, the winner of the first duel continues to save time. There is something different about the Championship this year, due to the new management. This year, it will be a team event. Each team will be made up of 3 duelists. This tournament will decide on those duelists. The winner of the tournament will be the leader of the team for this region. He/she-"

Mr. Dongard managed to _pronounce _a slash without actually saying the word 'slash.' Lucien decided he would have to investigate this at a later date. Next thing you knew, people were going to start pronouncing capital letters.

"-will pick out 2 other duelists from the top 10 finalists to be his/her team mates. Now how many duelists are here?"

Mr. Kiwasaki whispered something into his ear. "Ok, we are making the cut off at 256 entrants, so that means we will have 8 rounds. Due to the amount of time that this will take, this qualifier will be spread over 2 days. You are not allowed to change your deck after the first duel, until you have either been eliminated or the tournament is over. Now let the games begin! The match-ups are on the board behind me."

He then proceeded to walk out of the room, leaving Lucien and the others to find who they were matched against. While Lucien worked his way through the crowd to the board, he shuffled the new cards into his deck. As soon as he got to the board, he noticed that his friends, Aliya and Raoul, were also signed up; luckily they were both in different sections than him. If they all stayed in the tournament for long enough, they wouldn't duel until the pre semi-final round at the earliest. But Lucien's first opponent was new to him; someone by the name of Jack Holland. Lucien found his table and waited. He didn't have long to wait. Jack had long blond hair that didn't look like it had been combed for a long time. There were probably more knots in it than in most woven rugs.

Lucien was not impressed. _What kind of idiot is this guy? He doesn't even come to the tournament looking half decent. Oh well, I'll just have to eliminate him before he embarrasses himself and others. _

Lucien decided that he would have to get things started. "Hello, Jack. I am Lucien."

"Hi."

"We will first shuffle each other's decks, and then we will flip for who goes first. Ok?"

"Uh, yeah sure."

Lucien handed his deck to Jack and took Jack's deck as well. He made sure to shuffle it several different ways to eliminate all chance of cheating. Jack just shuffled the deck slowly, and in all likelihood; ineffectively. _I'm just glad that I shuffled before hand. _After that Lucien took back his deck.

"Heads or Tails?"

"I'll take heads."

Lucien flipped the coin and it landed on tails.

"I'll go first." His starting hand wasn't too bad either. He smiled as he drew his sixth card.

Jack: 8000

Lucien: 8000

"I set one monster face down. I also set 3 spells or traps. And now I play Card Destruction!" Jack frowned as he discarded his five cards. They both drew fresh cards.

"I think that I'll end my turn there."

Jack drew his card. "I hate to say it, but I don't see what you've accomplished. You are no threat to me. I summon Berserk Gorilla and equip it with Big Bang Shot. I will destroy your monster and do damage to your life points!"

_This fool really has no idea what he is doing. I can tell that he has the usual 40 card deck. He has already drawn 11 of these. He has 29 left and counting. _"I am afraid that I will have to disagree."

"What could you possibly do to stop me?"

"I activate Gravity Bind."

Jack frowned. "That means my strong monsters can't attack. I can't do anything but set 2 spells or traps and end."

Lucien drew, and was pleased to see one of his rarer cards.

"I flip Needle Worm. You lose the top five cards of your deck." Jack then discarded the top five cards without looking at them. Lucien double checked to see if there was anything of interest and noted that Torrential Tribute and Behemoth King of All Animals were among them.

_Now he has 24 cards left. _"I now activate my face down Assault on GHQ! I tribute Needle Worm and you lose the top two cards from your deck." Jack discarded them, still oblivious.

_22 cards to go. _"I now set a monster. I end my turn."

Jack drew and smiled. "I play Heavy Storm! Now that all of your traps are destroyed, I attack!"

"I am afraid not."

"Huh?"

"Your Heavy Storm destroyed Big Bang Shot. By its effect, Berserk Gorilla is removed from play."

"I swear, next turn you are dead! I end."

_Empty threats from someone with 21 cards left and about to be less. _Lucien drew. He immediately set a card in his spell and trap zone. He had no immediate use for it, but it could come in handy soon. "I flip Morphing Jar! Now since neither of us has a hand to discard, we both will draw five cards!" _Now he only has 16 cards left in his deck._

"I summon Raging Flame Sprite (100/200). I think I'll set a spell or trap face down. I play Double Attack and discard Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch to allow me to attack twice. Now I will use Raging Flame Sprite's ability to attack you directly twice in a row. The first time it does only 100 damage but the second time it does 1100 because my monster gains 1000 attack points whenever it attacks directly. Now my monster has 2100 attack. I play Level Limit Area B and end my turn."

Jack: 6800

Lucien: 8000

"Is that all? I fail to see how you are going to even come close to beating me. I will summon Nimble Momonga, and equip it with Big Bang Shot and Mage Power. Now I set 2 spells or traps. My beast now has 3400 attack, more than enough to wipe your sprite off the field. I attack."

Jack: 6800

Lucien: 6700

Lucien cocked his head to one side. "Now that is a minor setback. I notice that it is the first damage that you have done to me. 1300 damage isn't too bad. Now I will draw."

_I just drew Servant of Catabolism. I still have nothing that can beat his Nimble Momonga, but he only 15 cards in his deck. He is running against the clock. _"I set a monster and end my turn."

"Hah. You have nothing that can get through my little monster? I will set a monster face down, and have my beast crush your monster!"

"You just attacked my Needle Worm. It has 600 defense so I lose 2800. I still have 3900 left though so excuse me if I fail to be worried. You lose five cards off the top of your deck."

Jack: 7400

Lucien: 3900

"Fine by me. I end my turn now. Just see if you can defeat my beasts!"

_Let's see, he only has 9 cards left in his deck. If I can stop his attacks, I will be home free! Now lets see what I draw…_Lucien picked up the next card and smiled.

"I play Messenger of Peace! Now you can't attack with your Nimble Momonga! I summon Servant of Catabolism and attack directly with its effect. You lose 700 life points and I chain with my Robbin' Zombie so you lose the top card of your deck. I will end."

Jack: 6100

Lucien: 3900

"I… I can't do anything. Where is my Mystical Space Typhoon!"

"Look in your graveyard." And low and behold, there it was; right where it had been sent by Needle Worm.

"It is my turn. May I take it?"

"Yes." _Ok, he only has 8 cards left. One of them will get taken by Robbin' Zombie this turn. He only has 4 turns left. Unless I can shorten that. _"I will set the monster that I just drew. Now I attack directly with my Servant of Catabolism. You lose the top card of your deck. I end."

"I play Poison Fangs. If I do any damage with my beasts, it is increased by 500. I set a monster and end."

"I hate to say it but I don't see what good it will do you. I will attack directly with my Servant of Catabolism. Then I will flip my set Morphing Jar #2! You shuffle your monsters into your deck and pick up cards until you can replace them on the field. I do the same." Lucien shuffled his monsters into his deck and the first card he picked up was Magician of Faith. Then he had to discard the Heart of Clear Water that he drew next but his final card was yet another Raging Flame Sprite. He then set both of his cards face down. Jack however did not get off so lightly. His first card was a monster, but his next three were all discarded. Then he got a monster. Then he had to discard the next card. But then he got his final monster, which was also the last card in his deck.

Lucien was grinning ear to ear. Or at least he would have been if he was the type to grin.

"I think that I have won this round. As soon as I end, you are incapable of drawing and I win. End turn."

Jack didn't even bother to say anything. He just cleared away his cards and walked out in a huff. _I must say, this deck is working better than I expected. But I never go the chance to play any of the combos. Oh well. Now I must see who I am supposed to duel in the next round. _At the board he noticed that Aliya and Raoul were still dueling. His own next opponent was Richard Len. He still had 25 minutes until the next round started so he decided that with nothing better to do he would seek out his friends. But in a crowd this size it was no easy task.

Soon Lucien heard a duelist complaining that a card didn't exist. He quickly went to investigate. The complainer was an unknown duelist. The card in question was of course Raoul's Dark Magic Attack. Ever since Harpies' Feather Duster was banned, no one could believe that there was another card with the same power. A judge was swiftly called over and the dispute and the duel resolved in Raoul's favor.

"Yet another person who doubts the power of your magicians I see."

"Yeah, it happens a lot. I was wondering if you would show up."

"Me? Miss a tournament? You've got to be kidding me!" They both knew that this was a joke as Lucien often didn't have the time or any transportation to get to tournaments and the bus was unreliable.

"Well I'm glad that you could make it." Raoul said as he slapped Lucien on the back. "I take it that you won your first duel?"

"Yeah, by a long shot."

"You won with that old deck? How did you manage it? What did he draw, nothing but equips?"

"I'm not using my old deck. And I'm not telling you what my new deck is. Just wait and see. Have you seen Aliya?"

"Not yet. But I see heard a few curses over that a way. People do that a lot when she gets a good combo for a lot of damage." The pair then walked to the place where Raoul had heard cursing. They had naturally arrived too late to see the end of the duel. They just saw Aliya smiling as she cleared away her cards. Seeing them, she finished putting her cards into her deck box and greeted them.

"Hey Lucien! You finally made it to a tournament! Did you win?"

"Yes, both Raoul and I won. And am I to judge by the outbursts of profanity from your opponent that you won as well?"

"Of course! Did you think that I would lose in the first round?"

"No, of course not." Raoul and Lucien said simultaneously but in entirely different tones of voice. Lucien was apologetic and Raoul was sarcastic.

"So what deck are you using this time Lucien?" asked Aliya.

"I finally decided on making my opponents deck out. Believe me, it works. You can ask the high and mighty duelist that I beat with it." Before Raoul could complain that Lucien would impart his deck to Aliya but not himself, someone else spoke up from near by.

"Well, while the young lovers are chatting, you people are about to miss the next round. You have two minutes." Lucien turned around, angry. People often thought that he and Aliya were or should be more than friends. He didn't recognize his tormentor this time. It was a girl that looked like she had a smirk surgically implanted on her face. Wearing a tank top and the shortest of shorts, she displayed other features that Lucien chose to ignore.

Seeing that Raoul was paying a bit too much attention to those features, Lucien ground his friend's toes into the floor. Raoul, startled, glared at Lucien, but chose to look at passers by instead. But Aliya was backing away ever so slightly, and when Lucien cast a worried glance at her, she whispered a name that explained everything.

"Amy…" This brought Lucien a sudden shock of recognition even though he had never met her before. Amy was the person that had made Aliya's life miserable before she had changed to Lucien's school. First she had pretended to be her friend, and then had told Aliya that she was ugly, and that she was the only person who could stand her. That she would never have any other friends. That she was dumb. Personally Lucien had long thought that the situation was more likely to be the reverse.

Amy spread rumors about her through the school, saying that she was a slut, that she an illegal immigrant from various countries, anything that was cruel and could damage her reputation. And it worked. Lucien was still trying to repair the damage. Remembering all of this, he was tempted to knock her flat then and there. But he controlled himself and rather than committing homicide, merely adapted an extremely cold manner. Colder than usual that is.

"Hello Amy. Though I am sure that I would love to chat," He spat out that last word, "as you noticed, we have two minutes until the next round. If we remain much longer, we may be disqualified." The three friends then started to walk away, Lucien keeping Aliya ahead of him trying to get her away from her nightmares as fast as possible. Amy however came in hot pursuit.

"I really don't see why two handsome guys like you two are hanging around with that slut. I know plenty of girls who would love to be with guys like you." She moved her hips suggestively. Lucien however had been stretched near his limit. He spun around with icy words.

"First of all, Aliya is the one who is not a prostitute. She, unlike some, is a person of honor. Also I would never come within thirty foot pole range of any of the girls that you speak of. Last of all, we are short on time. We aren't going to be disqualified in a minute by not showing up. However you can feel free to do what you please with that young man who has been staring at you for quite a while now."

Lucien then spun away ushering Aliya forward, and dragging Raoul away. He left the "young man" to deal with an Amy that had yet to realize how many times she had been indirectly insulted. It didn't take long however as by the time Lucien had gotten his friends safely to the board with the pairings, a scream of rage was heard quite clearly.

"Now, Aliya, don't let her bother you. If she does, call me or a judge over. Or put Raoul in between you and her and he will stand there drooling (this comment brought a hit over the head from Raoul) and keep her away. You are at table 50. Raoul, you are at table 29. I will be at table 4. See you both later and good luck." He then rushed off to avoid disqualification.

Note: Read, and Review. Make sure to point out any way that it should be changed. Thank you. In case you didn't realize it, the italics are Lucien's thoughts. Or whoever else is currently acting as the main character. Don't worry; I've cleaned up my act since I wrote this chapter- the writing gets better as well as the plot. At least read through say… chapter five. That ought to do the trick. And if you don't like it have the decency to tell me why. According to the stats some hundred people have read this chapter and nothing else without reviewing. Shame. There is something called the anonymous review. You don't need an account to review. Therefore there is no reason for there to be all those unknowns.


	2. Not So Humble Begginings

Chapter 2 - Regionals

Lucien reached his table on time and waved above the crowd to Aliya and Raoul to make sure that they made it as well. With there timely arrival ensured, he sat down and looked at his opponent. This time it was someone that he recognized slightly.

"You're the duelist that has the perfect record here, aren't you?"

"Who else is this good looking?" his opponent who he know remembered was named Richard replied pompously.

"Well let us see if that trend will continue." _I honestly don't think that I have ever met someone with this big and ego before. He is going down if I can do anything about it._ They shuffled each others' decks; his new opponent was much more professional than the last.

"Here, I will flip the coin." He took out one of the coins that were often given out as a prize in smaller tournaments. "Heads or Tails?"

"Tails." The coin was flipped high into the air and landed on heads.

"You may go first." Lucien glanced at Richard with an eyebrow raised but decided not to question the decision.

"Ok, I draw." Lucien drew his first hand and then his 6th card. _Not the best hand. But I should be able to do something with it._"I set a monster and play Swords of Revealing Light! I set a spell or trap and end my turn."

"Hmmm… I will play Mystical Space Typhoon on your Swords. Now I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior and use his effect on the face down. I set 2 spells or traps and attack with Breaker."

"You just destroyed my Sangan. I will get Cyber Jar with the effect."

"I will end my turn." _Now let's see if I can bluff him out. He thinks that I will set Cyber Jar. _I set 2 spells or traps and a monster. That is all."

"I don't even know how you got to the second round with plays like that! I summon Shining Angel. I attack with Breaker."

"I chain. Gravity Bind. "

"I will get through soon. I end." Lucien drew.

"I flip my Magician of Faith. Now I get back Swords of Revealing Light."

"It wasn't even your Cyber Jar? Any decent duelist would have set that!"

"Now, who said that I was a decent duelist? I am insulted that you would consider me one!" Richard looked quizzically at him. "Interpret it as you like. I will set a monster. I end my turn."

"I draw." A look of consternation crossed Richard's face. "I will set a monster and end my turn."

"Is that all? Oh well, I have no right to complain. I draw." Looking at his latest card, Lucien grinned inwardly though maintaining his poker face. _Night Assailant. You will have your time soon._

"I will flip my Cyber Jar!" After picking up 5 cards he continued, "I just drew Mask of Darkness, Assault on GHQ, Raging Flame Sprite, Mystical Space Typhoon, and The End of Anubis. I set the Mask of Darkness face down and Raging Flame Sprite goes to attack mode. What did you get?"

"Mystic Tomato, Magic Cylinder, Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, Spirit Reaper, Pot of Greed. Both monsters in defense."

"A Chaos deck! Bah. I should have known. Well, I have nothing against it other than its being wide spread. But it has its weaknesses. I will tribute Raging Flame Sprite for The End of Anubis. I set 3 face down spells or traps. End Turn."

"The End of Anubis? What on earth does that do?" Richard looked very puzzled as he drew his next card.

"It's simple. It negates all effects that target cards in the graveyard and all cards that activate in the graveyard. So our graveyards are effectively sealed."

"What! That means that I can't summon my envoy!"

"Of course."

"I play Pot of Greed to draw 2 cards."

"Fine."

"I play Graceful Charity."

"I chain with Forced Requisition. It doesn't do anything yet though." _All of this drawing cards is helping me! He has drawn/discarded 19 cards so far. He probably only has 21 left._

"I discarded Airknight Parshath and Magic Cylinder. Now I will tribute both of my monsters for Dark Magician of Chaos! I don't get to retrieve a spell due to your monster but soon I will rid the field of it. I will flip Rageki Break and discard Magician of Faith to destroy Gravity Bind. Now I attack your The End of Anubis!" Lucien marked down the change in points.

Lucien: 7700

"You will pay, you know that right?" Lucien didn't look angry, despite the menace his tone conveyed.

"You couldn't beat me if your life depended on it."

"We shall see. Is that all?"

"Far from it. I activate my face down Call of the Haunted on Airknight Parshath. Now I attack your face down Mask of Darkness."

Lucien: 6200

"I take damage, but not enough to worry me. I get back my Gravity Bind. I also chain the destruction of Mask of Darkness with Rope of Life and discard all of the cards in my hand to revive my Mask with 1700 attack points. You now need to discard 3 cards from your hand because of Forced Requisition."

"What! You have accomplished nothing, your monster is weak and not worth reviving. I will discard D.D. Assailant, Ring of Destruction, and another Shining Angel."

"Oh, and did I mention that one of the cards that I discarded was Night Assailant? Now I get back Cyber Jar to my hand."

"You did all of that just to bring back one card to your hand? Pathetic. I end my turn out of pity." _I have one turn to stop his envoy; or it will be the beginning of the end for me. I need a trap that will destroy it automatically… but I don't have any of those in this deck; or something to stop it from being summoned. My best bet is to make him discard though. _He drew. _Perfect. _

"I will now set a monster. Now I play Card Destruction. I have no cards left in my hand, so this doesn't affect me, but you lose your envoy. I end my turn."

"I will attack your monster with Airknight Parshath."

"Hmmm… I can afford the damage. It is Cyber Jar."

Lucien: 5200

"I get Tribe Infecting Virus in attack mode, Mirror Force goes to my hand, and Mystic Tomato goes to attack mode, Spirit Reaper face down, and Lighting Vortex to my hand."

"You can't do much without your envoy can you? I get Morphing Jar, Needle Worm, Book of Tayou, Magician of Faith, and Null and Void. All monsters face down."

"I will attack the face down Needle Worm and Magician of Faith with my Mystic Tomato and Tribe Infecting Virus."

"I will retrieve Card Destruction with Magician of Faith. Do you end your turn?"

"I set a spell or trap. I end. Now make your move."

Lucien set down a spell or a trap and a monster.

"I will play Card Destruction. I now flip my long dormant Mystical Space Typhoon on your face down. I set a spell or trap. I flip Morphing Jar. Now you should draw out the rest of your deck!"

"But that is where you are wrong. I don't only have 40 cards in my deck. I have 50 or so. Your little strategy just went down the drain."

"We will see about that. I play my face down Book of Tayou on my face down Morphing Jar #2." It took 7 cards for Richard to get 3 monsters. Lucien didn't even look at his as he set them. "I set a final spell or trap and end my turn."

"I draw, and…"

"No, you don't. I activate both of my face down Attack on GHQ before you draw and sacrifice my 2 monsters and make you discard the last 4 cards from your deck. Hate to break it to you but I win."

Lucien cleared up his cards and proceeded to report the win and find Raoul and Aliya leaving a shocked and formerly undefeated duelist behind.

Had he cheated to win? Not quite. If his opponent didn't know how the card really worked, he didn't deserve to use it. Lucien knew though: Black Luster Soldier's summoning condition couldn't be negated by The End of Anubis. It was a cost, and costs couldn't be negated.

Lucien tried not to feel remorse as he reported his victory and Mr. Kiwasaki's eyebrows shot up. He had been given no other choice. Duelmonsters wasn't just a game of cards, it was a game of words, strategy and deceit, so much like life.

_But it doesn't make it right. _


	3. Cheating is Bad for Your health

Chapter 3 – Regionals

It didn't take long for Lucien to find his friends; they were already at the board waiting for him. It was clear even without looking at the board for results that they had both won. The three of them were now in the top 64. It may not sound like much but 64 out of 256 isn't too shabby.

"I take it that both of you were successful in your endeavors?" Raoul and Aliya turned from the board to face him. Raoul managed to get the first word in.

"Could you please just shut it with the geek speak?" Aliya chimed in soon afterward.

"Yes, people are staring. If they aren't they should be." Lucien took all of this lightly; it was a joke between him and anyone who had ever considered themselves anything other than an enemy that he was somewhat loquacious.

"Really, you should allow me to use at least a little of my expansive vocabulary." Rolling his eyes Raoul sarcastically responded,

"A little is exactly what we want you to use. In any case, how was your duel?"

"Not bad. It was a tad harder than the last one, but that isn't saying much. Some guy with a Chaos deck, it wasn't very well built. I stopped his Black Luster Soldier with The End of Anubis for awhile but then he got Dark Magician of Chaos on it and removed it from play so I couldn't use Rope of Life on it." Meanwhile Aliya was looking at the board, and when she got to Lucien's previous match up her eyes widened as she turned to him.

"You beat Richard Len!" Raoul double checked the board before his eyes widened similarly.

"But that guy was like, king of the store!" Lucien was getting kind of embarrassed, and was blushing a bit.

"Well, he wasn't really all that tough. All there was to it was getting rid of his envoy and then it was a piece of cake." However despite his reassurances, his friends continued to stare at him.

"I don't think this is Lucien." Started Aliya.

"Your right, Lucien couldn't have done that. Even if he had, he would be jumping for joy." Raoul continued.

"Not to mention the singing and dancing."

"Exactly."

Lucien was starting to be a bit perturbed by the conspiratorial glances that his two friends were exchanging.

"Uh guys? It's me. I am Lucien. Are you two ok?" But Aliya and Raoul continued to talk to each other, feigning seriousness, but the worried Lucien was taken in by it.

"You do know that there is only one reliable test that we can conduct to make sure that it is him."

"Of course, shall we do it then?"

"Yes, on three." They counted down together.

"Three, two, one… TICKLE ATTACK!" Then they simultaneously charged at Lucien while he tried to escape in vain and soon had him on the floor laughing hysterically. This is truly hysterical laughter; it varies from something that sounds like a cross between an elf and a chipmunk, and one that sounds like the evilest of evil laughs.

"So do you think it's him?" asked Raoul.

"Yeah, no one else would laugh like that in public." Aliya said and gave Lucien a hand up.

"Just don't do that again, I have a reputation to keep up." After Lucien said this, Aliya and Raoul started cracking up again. "Why don't we all go to our duels early? I see that someone is already sitting across from my spot, I assume that it is my opponent." Aliya and Raoul were laughing to hard to respond so Lucien just walked to his spot at table 8.

"Hello, I am afraid that I didn't get the chance to look carefully at the chart. May I ask what your name is?"

"Afer. Afer Comdat." Lucien looked over his opponent. He was wearing a hooded sweatshirt with some band's logo that Lucien didn't recognize on it. His hood was up, but you could tell that his hair hadn't been combed for a long time. In other words, he looked like one of those teenagers that Lucien always suspected were up to no good, and usually he was right.

"Nice to meet you, I am Lucien. Lets start now shall we?"

"Sure"

"I will flip a coin, you call it. Heads or Tails." Lucien flipped the coin and in midair Afer called it heads.

"Tails I'm afraid. I will go first." As Lucien drew his first hand, he got many of his best cards. _I can do a lot with this._

Lucien: 8000

Afer: 8000

"First I set a monster. Now I play Book of Tayou on it, revealing it to be Cyber Jar." While he picked up 5 cards, Lucien started counting the cards left in his opponent's deck. _30 to go._

"I get Needle Worm, Morphing Jar, Card Destruction, Book of Tayou, and Book of Moon. Both my monsters go face down."

"That was a pointless move. I got Pot of Greed, Graceful Charity, Mirror Force, Tribe Infecting Virus, and Sinister Serpent. My monsters both go in defense mode."

"I first play Book of Tayou on Needle Worm." _25 _"I set 3 spells or traps. Now I play Card Destruction, then I chain with Serial Spell. That means that you discard eight cards, then you draw eight more. Then you discard them again and draw them again." _9 _"I however discarded my hand to Serial Spell, so I would have none left. But I discarded both of my Night Assailants and I will use their abilities to retrieve each other. Now I activate my face down Book of Moon. I flip Needle Worm back face down. I end."

"Well I don't see what you achieved. I now will play Swords of Revealing Light. You must have some tribute monster that you want to summon. Now I play-"

"Would you please comply with my monster's effects first? You flipped them with Swords of Revealing Light. You discard the top 5 cards. Then you discard your hand and draw 5. Oh, dear. You don't have 5 left. I win."

"What! You cheated!" Afer stood up in a rage. But as he stood up, cards started falling out of his sleeves. There were some rare ones, and more copies of the best ones like Pot of Greed, Mirror Force, and other cards that could change the course of a duel. There were also some normal ones, but not many.

"Now who was cheating? I didn't, I just got incredible luck, and you flipped my monsters for me. I am reporting this." Afer however had started to move away. He just picked up his cards and ran. _First he cheats, and then he runs. This is UNACCEPTABLE! _Lucien slipped his cards into his deck box and that into his pocket. Then he vaulted over the table and ran down the aisle ducking around other chairs. Luckily, most of the other duels hadn't started yet. People were staring. They had seen the entire scene with the cards falling out of the sleeves. Afer had reached the door and was outside. He stopped to talk to a group of older kids, probably not even kids any more, they could have been over 21, who were smoking _(so with luck, they are at least over 18; otherwise I am dealing with criminals as well) _. One of them looked very similar to Afer. _Ah, relatives. Bring it on. _

The one that looked like Afer, and was probably the most intimidating _(the two things are completely coincidental)_ spoke up while Afer stood mostly behind the group smiling smugly. _That little prig thinks that he's gotten off scot-free ehh? We shall see. _

"So you been uhh…" One of the less intimidating ones who you could even call scrawny whispered something in his ear, but Lucien heard it 'tormenting, you block head, tormenting' "You been tormentin' our little buddy here?"

"No, just chasing him so I could report that he was cheating. You see, the cards dropped out of his sleeves after I won, then he ran." The other smokers were preparing for a fight; they dropped their cigarettes and ground them into the ground with the toes of their shoes.

"Our little buddy don't cheat! You musta cheated to beat him. Get him boys!" The smokers all charged with the exception of the wiry one who had whispered to the presumed relative of Afer, who stood with Afer. A smile came up on Lucien's face as he leapt to the side and away from the first charge. He ran towards the piles of extra materials from the recent renovation and enlargement of the card store. There were some metal poles, but he didn't want to have the law after him for killing one of them, so he picked out a PVC pipe. He hefted it around a bit to get the feel for it but swiftly had to dodge to the side to avoid the first of them. _Wonderful, a weapon. In that weapons class at camp, I always preferred a quarter stave over swords. This shall be my quarter stave. _

Now that he was on the side of his opponents; he gripped the middle of the pipe and spun it around as he charged at them aiming at their chests so as not to cause permanent damage while still weakening them. After landing a solid hit on one guys ribs, and getting a thrust in on another; he had to defend himself. He managed to get to a wall so he wouldn't have them coming from the rear, but otherwise he was surrounded from all sides. Some of them had even gotten the metal rods that he had passed up.

"Kid, now you are feel some pain!" one of the smokers raised his rod, and prepared to swing. Lucien prepared himself and crouched down a bit, ready to dodge or block. As the rod came down Lucien rocketed into the men at his right and managed to avoid the attack. But now they were all getting ready to strike. Before they reformed around him, he saw Mr. Kiwasaki standing behind the glass door, wide eyed. His mouth was open, presumably to get some of the burlier judges to break it up. The judges would probably have just gotten hurt though.

As the rods descended towards him, Lucien realized that his plastic pipe would break under the force of all the metal ones; and so as a last ditch attempt threw his rod at one of the men in front of him. It hit with a sickening crunch and if he had the time, Lucien would have thought that the guy's nose was broken. But with no time to think, he just raised his arms in front of his body and-

CRASH! Evidently a few of the men had turned aside to see to the one with that had been hit in the face, and only three rods had finished the decent. Only one had hit as the other two got ensnared in each other. That one rod now was broken; a small piece was in the man's hand, but most of hit had been deflected and flew high into the air behind the men to hit earth 30 yards back. Actually it hit a car with skulls and cross bone stickers all over it. _What happened there? What broke it? _Lucien then looked at where the rod had hit- it had hit his bracelet. The one that he had kept as a memorandum to- _Thank you Ally. This thing saved me. Your memory has kept me safe. _The other men had seen what happened.

"That's impossible! There is something wrong with that kid; no one can break on o' those! It was steel!" They all started to go away, but then sirens started to be heard up the street and 3 police cars swerved into the parking lot. Mr. Kiwasaki rushed out of the card shop and pointed to the men.

"This is them officers!" The police quickly got all of them bundled into cars and interviewed Lucien. It was swiftly determined that he would not need to be present in court or do anything else after he had told the police men everything.

After going back inside; Lucien reported his win, and went to the board to see his next opponent. But it turned out that because of the disturbance that none of the other duels had even started yet. He contemplated watching the duel that would decide his next opponent, but decided to go watch Aliya duel instead. He found her alone at her table; evidently her opponent had yet to arrive.

"Hello Aliya. Believe it or not, I won in his first turn so I decided to come and watch your duel."

"Wow… I thought that they had banned all of the first turn kills. But what happened outside? And with that kid who you beat?"

"Well you see he had been cheating so I tried to get him to confess and then he-" Lucien stopped as Aliya's opponent arrived. He was wearing a button down shirt, with pens in the pocket and looked like a geek. _And people think that I am geeky! Get an eyeful of this kid! He's got everything from the too short shorts to the horn rim glasses! All he needs is a pocket protector! Then again, I shouldn't be talking as I almost was given a pocket protector last Christmas._

"Hello, my name is Tom Nagril. I take it that you are my opponent, Aliya?" he said in a nasal voice.

"Yup, I'll flip the coin, and you call it." She flipped the coin into the air and Tom call out-

"Tails!" It was tails. "I will take the liberty of going first." They both drew their starting hands. Tom drew his sixth card as well.

"I will set a monster and 3 face down spells or traps. That is all." Aliya drew her card, and a faint smile played across her lips. _Tom is going to see soon that Aliya is going to be hard to beat._

"I will summon Fire Princess. I play Messenger of Peace, and set 2 face down spells or traps. I will end."

"Hmm… I will have to set another monster and end my turn."

"Not doing so well when you can't attack, ehh? I will activate Solemn Wishes in my Draw Phase. I gain 500, you lose 500."

Aliya: 8500

Tom: 7500

"Next I pay for my Messenger."

Aliya: 8400

Tom: 7500

"Then I summon Cure Mermaid. Now I will activate Life Absorbing Machine. I end my turn. I gain half of the points that I paid with Messenger because of Life Absorbing Machine. You lose another 500 because of Fire Princess."

Aliya: 8450

Tom: 7000

"I can see that you will be a difficult opponent, but I am not going to let that stop me. I will first flip my newest set monster, Cyber Jar! I believe that you know the effect?"

"Yes, of course I know the effect!" It was clear that Aliya was irritated by her strategy being countered so soon. Tom smiled at her irritation.

"I got Nimble Momonga, Giant Germ, Guardian Angel Joan, A Hero Emerges, and Staunch Defender. Both my monsters will go face down."

"Peten the Dark Clown in defense, Soul Absorption, Lesser Fiend, Call of the Haunted, and Bowganian in attack."

"I will set a new monster. Now I end."

"I draw and in my standby phase you lose 600 points. I also pay for my Messenger."

Aliya: 8300

Tom: 6400

"I will play Soul Absorption. Then I will tribute Peten the Dark Clown for Lesser Fiend. I will send the Peten out of play to get another one and because a card was removed from play I gain life points through Soul Absorption."

Aliya: 8500

Tom: 6400

"Next I will set a spell or trap. I will have my Lesser Fiend attack one of the face downs from the Cyber Jar. Its effect is negated since it is sent out of play instead of the graveyard. I also gain more points." Tom flipped over his Giant Germ and slipped it into the graveyard.

Aliya: 9000

Tom: 6400

"Finally I will end my turn and gain from Life Absorbing Machine."

Aliya: 9050

Tom: 6400

"Good, now I will play set 2 spells or traps face down. Secondly I will flip Bubonic Vermin and get another face down. Then I set another monster. Now I end."

"You know the drill, in my standby phase you lose 600 and I pay for my Messenger of Peace."

Aliya: 8950

Tom: 5800

"Then I activate Call of the Haunted and get back my Fire Princess. Then I summon Banisher of the Light. Now any card that would go to the graveyard goes out of play instead! From my hand I play Poison of the Old Man, to gain life points. I gain 1200 and with Fire Princess you lose 500."

Aliya: 10150

Tom: 5300

"Now I will play Soul Release. I will send all the cards in the graveyard out of play since there are only 5 and Soul release itself will go out of play because of Banisher of the Light! I gain life, and you lose it."

Aliya: 13150

Tom: 2300

"Next I play Chaos Greed. If I have no cards in the graveyard and at least 4 out of play I can draw 2 cards." She picked up two more cards.

"Oh, and don't forget, Chaos Greed goes out of play because of Banisher of the Light and our life points continue to separate."

Aliya: 13650

Tom: 1800

"Now I attack your Bubonic Vermin which was thoughtlessly left in attack mode with Lesser Fiend!"

"Not so fast, I chain with A Hero Emerges. Pick a card from my hand, if it is a monster, it is special summoned."

"I pick the one on the left."

"You just picked Guardian Angel Joan. It is special summoned."

"You forget, I don't have to attack it, so I will continue the attack on your Vermin. Oh, and Banisher of the Light works on your cards too, including those traps."

Aliya: 14150

Tom: 1300

"Yes, but even so it is my turn to gain life points. This combo will send my life points soaring and decimate yours, and your strategy! I activate Staunch Defender. Now all of your monsters must attack my Guardian Angel! I all your monsters except your Peten are in attack mode, so you will lose almost everything. And I will gain the attack points of each monster!" Tom was grinning manically, but Aliya remained calm.

"Oh well, if I am so doomed, than how will I win? My Lesser Fiend will attack your Angel." Then Aliya marked down the following:

Aliya: 13750

Tom: 0

"WHAT! HOW!"

"Simple, I activated Bad Reaction to Simochi. You lost the life points that you would have gained, and you lost everything."

"How… I will have to revise my strategy, swarming my opponent simply won't work anymore. Good game."

"You too. I hope to duel you again some day."

"That some day must be pretty far away, you are going to be all around the world for tournaments."

"What?"

"Well, follow this train of logic. You are good enough to get in the top ten of this tournament easily. If you aren't first, odds are that with your skill, you will be picked for the team. Then you will go to the state championship. If you do well there, you will get sponsorships and tournament opportunities throughout the country. If you win, you will go to the national tournament. If you do well there then you will get some recognition around the world. And if you win! Then there are endless possibilities. Well, I lost, I got to go. Bye!" Tom ran off, but Aliya was still absorbing what he had said. She turned to Lucien, and Raoul who had just arrived.

"He has a point you know. You could go that far." Lucien said with a grin.

"Me? You are the one who has a one turn win under their belt."

"Not you, not me. Us. We will go through this together. You forget; it is a team who will exit this, not a single champion." At this point, Raoul was clearly feeling ignored, so he interrupts.

"'Us' includes me, right? After all, it is a three person team."

"Yes, of course it will include you. After all, someone needs to be there to goof off." Lucien said jokingly. Raoul then proceeded in putting him in a head lock with Aliya laughing. Lucien squirmed out of it holding Raoul's deck box.

"Now if you promise not to do that again, you will get this back." This was an old joke between them. _He's the brawn, and I'm the brains. He tries brute force and I win through wit. _

"Awh, ok give it here now." Lucien tossed the box over. "Now let's see who the competition is. We are in the last 32 now. Since neither of you bothered to ask, yes, I won my duel."

"No, of course we didn't ask, we just took it for granted." Aliya said sarcastically. Raoul went after her, and Lucien intercepted and the friends walked off laughing together.

Some ways off to the side Amy was standing. She had heard the entire exchange. _I won't let that little snob, Aliya make it to the team. I will get first place and chose Lucien and Raoul, or some other… more easily persuaded duelist. Then they will have to be grateful to me, and they will forget all about her! I will humiliate her so that she will never show her face in front of Lucien again! _She walked off planning what she could do to Aliya and what she would do with Lucien in her thrall.

Rex: I don't think that spelling should be a problem. I always use spell check but I will double check in future. As for me only showing Lucien's life points it was because Richard's didn't change. If they had I would have included them. I will make a note of the life points.

John: hahaha, yes, names are hard. Who said that Gravekeeper's Servant wasn't already in this deck? Don't think that Lucien only has 40 cards, with his deck that would be disastrous. I meant King of the Swamp. But I see you point and it was a mistake on my part. Lets just say it was Polymerization. As for the dark deck, we shall see.

Lucien: Thanks for the tip! I had forgotten it.

Me: No you fool! It was in it.

Lucien: Just confess, you had forgotten it too.

Me: ……

Peace Writer: Thank you for your advice. Plus, I can bend the rules of Upperdeck can't I? After all, who said that upper deck made the rules in my world? evil laughter

Nanashi Minimino: Thank you. Yes, it is rather like Sei's anti Yugi deck and yes, it is the discard deck. Well, it is what I wish my discard deck was as I don't own all of the cards.

Sdrive: Thank you for the complements.


	4. What are Friends for? Transportation!

Quotes of the Day: "Brevity is the soul of wit." – Mark Twain

Tournament of Souls – Regionals

When Lucien, Aliya, and Raoul got to the board, nothing new was posted. They looked around and saw that Mr. Kiwasaki was waiting with the microphone for the last few duels to end. He also noticed that it was starting to get late – some of the duels had taken a while so it was already a good 3 hours after the start of the tournament, so it was already dark out being about 8 o'clock. The last few duels finished up and Mr. Kiwasaki called for attention.

"Attention! Attention please!" as everyone quieted down he continued.

"This was the last round of the tournament for today, and even though we got less than half of it done, as tomorrow is a weekend, we should have no problem. The 32 people remaining should come here at 1 o'clock tomorrow, ok?" There was a chorus of assent from the crowd.

"Good, I will see you all tomorrow then, and remember, if you are still in the tournament you are not allowed to alter your deck. Thank you and good night." Mr. Kiwasaki went into the back room and all was quiet for a few moments until everyone started talking about the tournament again. As soon as Mr. Kiwasaki had stopped speaking, Lucien had started towards the door of the shop. He saw Amy coming in his direction so he picked up the pace. He was lucky, as soon as he got to the bus stop the bus arrived and he was on it safely before Amy got anywhere close.

Raoul was picked up by his older brother and Aliya was picked up by her mother. As she went home she worried about Amy. If they both won 2 more rounds then they would have to duel in the quarter finals. _I don't know if I can duel her. She beat me so many times before…But that was before; before Lucien helped me get stronger. I can beat her now…I need to. I still hope that I don't have to face her though. _

When she got home, she showered, and went to bed. As she slowly drifted off to sleep, she started to think about what she would do if she made it onto the team that would come out of this tournament. And those thoughts turned to dreams as she slept…

About 5 hours later, in the dead of night, the shutters opened and whispers of a life past rushed through the room and Aliya started to toss and turn in a nightmare.

_A cloaked figure was holding a duel disk, and there was a demon standing in front of the figure. It had a green face with yellow eyes wrought by cruelty, and it was laughing at her. It wore a head piece, with sharp designs in gold and blue baubles on each side of the head. At the bottom of the head piece there were small blue stones, and in the middle a face that looked as if it had been marinated in grape juice and sorrow, as it was purple and sorrowful. From under the head piece came two plated shoulder guards that hang low and coming from under the head piece, right under where the face was, was the face of a skull, a true deaths head with red eyes and a nose that looked distinctly inhuman. From there on were blue robes embroidered with gold hems. The demon looked almost casual holding a wine glass with a little gold spiral coming up it, almost full of a green liquid. Behind the demon were several face down cards, and at its side, a smaller blue fiend with wings was fluttering about. _

_She was sweating, and as she looked around desperately for an exit, but she only saw a shifting shadows, and if you looked to closely, you would see faces of demons and monsters, and humans who were part way to becoming the demons that surrounded them. She decided not to get a closer look and looked back at the field. Facing the demon, was a group of fairies huddled on a flower. The were shaking in fear though they were better suited to dancing. The cloaked figure spoke._

"_Your doom has come. I will tribute my smaller monster for a monster capable of doing damage through defense." The winged fiend disappeared and was replaced by a dark knight mounted on a horse wielding a long handled battle axe. He and his mount had red eyes and appeared to be hell spawn. _

"_My new beast will attack your fairies. You lose 800 point from that, but my other demon will take care of the rest." The demon in question swilled around the wine in its glass for a bit, took a sip, and then held out its other hand and uttered a curse. The eyes of the skull it was wearing started to glow red, and there was a sudden shifting of the world toward it. She felt a part of herself lurch forward with it and fell to her knees. The displacement of air from the attack had knocked back the figures hood revealing a woman with long red hair. The woman was laughing manically, and faded away into the darkness, which no longer held back by the duel, had rushed in and around her. She felt herself fading away, split in two. Much of her awareness faded into the darkness, but a little bit was channeled elsewhere, the darkness faded as did all of her feeling and a hotel room was revealed as the little bit that had yet to be channeled off, whispered,_

"_Lu…cien…"_

Aliya woke up, startled, and scared. She looked around for the demon or the red haired duelist. Finding neither she calmed slightly, and got out of bed, and as the covers slipped off revealed a navy blue pajama shirt and blue pajama pants. _I won't be able to sleep for awhile after that. _She went into the bathroom and splashed some water on her face, and wiped it off with a towel. As she looked in the mirror, she thought she saw someone else looking back at her, but she wiped her eyes and just saw her self. Puzzled she went back to her bedroom and got into bed. Soon she was asleep once more, and this time, no dreams disturbed her sleep.

In the morning, Lucien got out of bed and immediately took a shower. He made sure that his hair was thoroughly cleansed, and that any trace of body odor was gone before he got out of the shower. He brushed his teeth, glad that he had gotten his braces off last month so that he no longer had to worry about food getting stuck in his brackets. No more orthodontists for him! He also combed his hair more carefully than usual as he wanted to look half decent for the tournament. If he won, which he had every intention of doing, he didn't want to embarrass himself. He then started working on a new deck.

He had seen how effective Aliya's deck was with its burn strategy, and had decided to build one of his own for the next tournament. He didn't want to copy her deck idea, even though he had a fair claim to it having helped her build it. He also didn't want a standard burn deck. He needed something new. Then it came to him. He started building his new deck.

As soon as Raoul woke up, he repeated the exercises that he did every night before bed and in the morning. He did 45 push ups, 40 sit ups, and ran half a mile around the neighborhood. When he came back, his parents were up, but his older brother, Larron was still asleep assuming that he was in his room. He always locked the door so there was no way of knowing if he was there and who was with him. He had a window that made entrances and exits fairly simple, and the lock was on both sides and couldn't be unlocked from either side without the key. Raoul knew that his parents kept a copy, but that they didn't use it unless it was an emergency or Larron was so drunk that he wouldn't remember. Larron was only 19, so he still wasn't allowed to drink, but he and his gang managed to get alcohol and consume it in large amounts at times.

His parents were in the kitchen, arguing as usual. His mother as usual was on the offensive, and loosing.

"How are we supposed to trust him if he stays locked up in his room all the time? We don't even know if he is there. Odds are he's had a dozen girls in and out of there! We've all seen him stone drunk, and we still don't know where he's getting the alcohol. Our liquor cabinet is locked up tight as a safe yet he still gets drunk!" His father was siding with Larron though.

"Really, why can't you just trust the boy, I know he has made some mistakes--"

"Some mistakes! Why that boy is riddled through with mistakes! He gets drunk, he has girls in his room—"

"Hold on now—"

"And don't you try do deny that he has, I do the laundry, I see the evidence." Raoul was trying to get his cereal without being noticed. He didn't like it when his parents argued and wanted nothing to do with him. As for his brother; he didn't know what to think. Larron did take him to duel monsters tournaments, and pick him up… most of the time. Once or twice he had gotten drunk and forgotten, but then he had called Lucien and Lucien had told him the bus route.

Raoul exited the kitchen with his bowl of cereal without his parents noticing him. He would wait until a little before noon to wake Larron to drive him back to the tournament. He knew how to pick the lock, even if his parents didn't.

At around noon, Lucien had finished his new deck, and brought it with him along with the deck he had to use for the tournament, and was devouring lunch when the phone rang. He picked up.

"Hello, this is Lucien speaking, may I ask who is calling?"

"Hey, Lucien, its Raoul."

"Oh, hi Raoul."

"Listen, could you get me the bus route to the tournament? My brother said that he would take me, but I can't find him anywhere! You know how he disappears some times."

"I have a better idea, I'll take the bus to your house, and then we will go to the tournament together."

"Cool, ok, I'll be outside by the bus stop on the corner, see you."

"Ok, I'll get going now, bye."

"Bye, and Lucien?"

"What?"

"Thanks a lot man."

"Anytime, I better get going if I am going to get to you on time. Bye." Lucien hung up. He practically vacuumed up the last of his sandwich and milk, and headed out the door. He ran to catch up with the bus, and managed to get on. He took his usual seat in the back.

People had marked it up with various profane messages, but it was generally pretty clear so that is where Lucien almost always sat. Pretty soon, the bus came up infront of Raoul's house, and Lucien got out of the bus, and saw Raoul.

"Hey, so Larron disappeared again?"

"Yeah."

"And you have no idea where he is?"

"No, he never tells us anything."

"Maybe you missed something. When and where did you see him last, and what did he say?"

"I last saw him right after he drove me home from the tournament, he just said, 'See ya later kid. Go to the top in that tournament, we're dependin' on you ta bring some honor to da family. We all know that I'm a lost cause, and mum and dad can't do nothin' but bicker about me."

"Do you remember anything odd? As a matter of fact, anything at all? The cloths that he was wearing, anything?"

"Well of course he was wearing something!"

"That's not what I meant. What was he wearing?"

"Well, as far as I can tell, some of his rattier clothes, you know, his cut off jeans, and some T-shirt from a rock band who went out of the lime light years ago."

"What band?"

"I don't remember the name, one of those Goth bands that should have gotten a group rate on therapy."

"Hmmm… I'm afraid I can't help you there. Look out, here's the bus." _And just in time too. I don't know how much longer I could have hidden my suspicions. _They got on to the bus, and Lucien changed the topic of the conversation.

"Ok, Raoul, for future reference, you take this bus, until the carry-out market, and then you walk a block to the card emporium, got that?"

"Sure, with luck I won't need to though."

"With luck." They were silent for the rest of the ride. When the bus came to a stop at the carry-out market, they hopped out and started to walk to the card store. Then Raoul broke the silence.

"Do you want to race to the store? You almost beat me last time."

"Sure, but don't expect me to be a challenge, I am still sore from the figh- from running from Amy." Raoul didn't notice the in discrepancy, but stopped and started to count down for the start of the race and got into a sprinter's starting position.

"On your marks, get set," Lucien bent down slightly, as he didn't feel like sprinting hard he took a moderate stance instead of mimicking Raoul's. "Go!" They started off. Lucien was aching but was only slightly behind Raoul. _Raoul may be faster, but he has only seen this area from a car. He doesn't really know his way around. _Lucien dropped back slightly more so that he was out of Raoul's line of sight, and then took off down an alley. He leapt over a few pot holes, but in the end came out from behind the card store and was sitting by the door as Raoul came around the corner. When he saw that Lucien was already there he looked shocked.

"What! How did you get here so fast? You were behind me!"

"I just took a little short cut."

"Whatever, lets go inside and get started."

"We are still a few minutes early so I think that I may test out a new deck of mine on a few people who aren't entrants." Raoul shrugged.

"Fine by me, just try not to attract too much of Amy's attention."

"Don't worry, I won't. Just don't make me drag the two of you apart." Then they walked into the store. Lucien immediately went towards the back to test out his new deck against some of the people that were sitting back there to cheer on their friends in the tournament. By the time Aliya came in and the tournament was about to resume, he had beaten three duelists in less than 15 minutes. Mr. Kiwasaki came out from the back, with his microphone to announce the start of the tournament. He cleared his throat and began

"Welcome duelists! We are here to resume the tournament with our remaining 32 duelists. You will be told the match ups by Mr. Dongard." The business man in question came out of the back room with his own microphone. You couldn't help but notice that it was polished and obviously much more expensive than the one that Mr. Kiwasaki used. He looked the same as yesterday… The exact same. Raoul whispered to Lucien.

"Isn't that the same tie that he wore yesterday?" Lucien nodded in agreement and listened to Mr. Dongard.

"Ok now here are the match ups. Lucien vs. Robert at table one. Ray vs. Carmen at table two. Lilly vs. Arnold table three….." Lucien went to table one. As Aliya and Raoul's names were called, they went to there respective tables. Meanwhile, Lucien got ready for his duel. His deck was well shuffled by the time Robert arrived.

"Hello Robert. Shall we duel?" Robert responded with a curt nod, and handed his deck to Lucien to be cut. Rather than mearly cutting it, Lucien shuffled it thoroughly. _I can't afford to take any risks now that I am this far. I don't want to run into a more experience version of Afer. _

"Heads or Tails?"

"Heads." It was the first thing that Robert had said so far. Lucien flipped the coin and it came down on heads. Robert drew six cards rather than saying which turn he was going to take so it was clear that he was going first.

"Set 2 spells or traps. Summon Newdoria. End." _This guy is a tad short on words. Well, speaking doesn't win duels, so I had better get a move on. _

"I will summon Raging Flame Sprite." Robert's hand had moved toward one of his face down cards, but he moved it away again.

"Now I will attack your life points directly with it by its effect."

Lucien: 8000

Robert: 7900

"I set 3 spells or traps and end my turn." Robert drew.

"Fissure. Your monster is destroyed."

"I chain with Forced Retribution and Magic Jammer. I discard Sinister Serpent to negate your spell. You must also discard a card because of Forced Retribution."

"Discard Offerings to the Doomed. Set monster. End." _Why didn't he attack?_

"I get back my Sinister Serpent. First off I play Pot of Greed. I summon Servant of Catabolism, and I will attack directly with both of my monsters, including my Sprite which had 1100 before this attack, and now has 2100."

Lucien: 8000

Robert: 6100

"And I will chain to my attack with Robbin' Zombie so you lose 2 cards off the top of your deck. I will play Gravekeeper's Servant, and to end my turn, I set a spell or trap face down and end my turn."

"I will flip my set monster, it is Man Eater Bug. Destroy your Sprite."

"I chain my set card, Assault on GHQ. I tribute the Sprite and you lose the top two cards of your deck."

"Newdoria, attack Servant of Catabolism. Man Eater Bug, attack directly."

Lucien: 7050

Robert: 6100

"I end." _Brevity may be the soul of wit, but this isn't witty, just brief._

"I play Swords of Revealing Light. That is all." _If I can't get something to stop his attacks, I am done for. _

"Set spell or trap. End." _Well, on the bright side, without the chatter, this duel is moving pretty fast. _

"I will set a monster. That will be all."

"Activate continuous trap, Needle Wall." Robert brought out a die. He rolled it, and it came up as a 6.

"Re-roll by the effect." He rolled, and it came up as a 4. Lucien's card was in space 2.

"Set spell or trap. End." Robert didn't show any expression. _Its clear that he is a very cautious duelist. He won't attack as long as there is a card face down on my field. His strategy is to destroy monsters so he doesn't have to attack them. He left two major holes though. I have yet to see a defense against spells or traps. Also he doesn't have much to destroy face down monsters. _Lucien drew.

"I will flip my face down monster. It is Morphing Jar." In response, Robert flipped up his latest set card.

"Activate Offerings to the Doomed. I skip next draw phase, destroy your monster. Not negate effect." They both discarded their hands and drew five cards. After carefully looking at Robert for any sign of why his speech was so blunt, and without any words that were not necessary. Then Lucien broke the silence.

"The cards that I discarded were Sinister Serpent and Night Assailant. I will get back Sinister Serpent in my standby phase and because of Night Assailant's effect, I will get Morphing Jar back to my hand. I set a monster and a spell or trap. That is all." Robert skipped his draw phase as was required by the effect of Offerings to the Doomed.

"Needle Wall activate. Die roll." It came up as a one. This time the monster was in slot three.

"Tribute monsters for Barrel Dragon. Flip coin three times." The coin came up, heads, tails, tails.

"End." _This guy relies to much on chance for some of these effects. But now Swords of Revealing Light is gone. I will need to beat this guy fast._

"I flip Needle Worm. You loose the top five cards of your deck." Robert moved five cards from the deck to his graveyard.

"Now, I will set a monster along with a spell or trap now that I have a space free. That will end my turn." Robert drew his card and after looking at it carefully, turned to the field.

"Needle Wall." He rolled the die and it came up as three. Lucien turned over a familiar trap.

"I will activate Assault on GHQ, I will tribute Needle Worm so you have to discard the top two cards of your deck." Without showing any sign of displeasure Robert continued his move; and would continue to be foiled.

"I will activate Barrel Dragon's effect on your face down monster." The coins once again failed to produce two heads.

"I end." With the failure of Barrel Dragon's effect, Lucien smiled and was filled with a feeling of invulnerability. Nothing could stop him now.

"First off, I will flip Compulsory Evacuation to send your mechanized dragon back to your hand. I believe that this is a lesson to scientists the world over. Do not try to recreate nature. Even more importantly do not try to re-create fantastical creatures." Robert showed a bit of emotion for the first time, as his eyebrows furrowed together in irritation.

"Now I will play Card Destruction. Our current hands are history. Next I will flip up Morphing Jar. Once again, we lose our hands, and according to my calculations, you lose the rest of your deck." However, when five more cards were picked up, there were still 2 remaining.

"You run a forty two card deck? Congratulations. I will summon Servant of Catabolism and attack directly with both of my monsters.

"Chain, two Sakuretsu Armor. Both attacks negated, both monsters destroyed."

"I will set a spell or trap and end my turn." _I don't like this. But in 3 turns he will lose."_

"I summon Newdoria and attack directly."

Lucien: 5950

Robert: 6100

"I end." _That is funny. Now his speech is reverting to normal. He was just being brief to try and scare me. Didn't work though. Now to end this._

"I summon Cliff the Trap Remover –" Lucien was cut off by Robert.

"I will chain Trap Hole."

"I will chain with my final Assault on GHQ. Now the remainder of your deck is gone. I end my turn. You lose." Lucien turned his thumb down.

"Good duel."

"Yes, good duel." Lucien cleared away his cards and headed towards the center of the room where a podium had been erected and where Mr. Dongard was standing. Judging by the group of people around him, including Aliya and Raoul, he was taking results. Lucien told him the result of his duel, was acknowledged with a nod, and went to talk to Aliya and Raoul. Since they were smiling, he knew that they had both won. They were on to the sweet sixteen. As he walked towards them, Mr. Dongard announced that there were five minutes left in the round. _Darn, I don't have time to check... It will have to wait. They will probably have a break before the quarter finals. I need to make sure... _

_----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Rex: Thank you for the advice, if you look above you will see that I followed it. Please keep on giving advice like that so I can continue to make this better. Do you like the "Quote of the Day" thing?

Sdrive: No one else defended him because all of the other duelists were inside either dueling or waiting for opponents. Mr. Kiwasaki is somewhat old and out of shape and wouldn't have been able to do anything. Plus even if he or one of the duelists had jumped in, odds are that they would have gotten hurt. This wouldn't have stopped Raoul but he was unaware. Note that Lucien doesn't tell them what happened.

Peace Writer: I am glad it was better, I do try. . I will check the calculation… uh-oh, your right. I also spotted a huge mistake, but luckily no one has noticed it yet. I will give 10 … I think all the good point names are taken but anyhow whoever finds it gets a digital plushy of any character from either this fan fic or the anime! And see? It was a card emporium!

Lucien: You just did that because of what they said.

Me: …. You just have to ruin everything don't you?

Lucien: You just had to make me say that didn't you?

Me: I hate it when you have a point.

Nanashi Minimino: Aliya's deck rocks. Tom's deck isn't bad but if you couldn't tell it was supposed to be a swarm deck(with cards like Nimble and Germ that activate when attacked) that would then bring out bigger tribute monsters, and it wasn't built to deal with a well built burn deck; and as you saw, this isn't your average burn deck in any way. He got as far as he did because he hadn't faced anyone with such a strong burn deck.

Zenryo: When you get this far you will have seen that it gets better.


	5. Sprites of Doubt

Tournament of Souls- Regional

Quote of the Day: "The rule of holes: When you are in a hole, stop digging."

Anonymous

As Lucien had suspected, both of them had won. Aliya was telling him how she had beaten someone when they had tried to revive their Summoned Skull with Premature Burial by activating Big Burn when she had Fire Princess and Soul Absorption on the field. Raoul wouldn't stop talking about how he had bluffed his opponent out for long enough for him to get Dark Magician on the field and to wipe out his opponent's defense with Dark Magic Attack, but Lucien was worrying about other things. _Where would Larron have gone? I need to get to a local news report. _He checked the clock to see how much time he had. According to it, he still had about ten minutes. _But where will I find a TV or radio? The bar up the street would have some, but I'm not allowed in there… Perfect! I'll check the restaurant on the next block. I'm allowed in there and I can pretend to be waiting for someone. _

"And then I played Pot of Greed to put the third counter on my Skilled Dark Magician--" Lucien interrupted Raoul's tail of victory.

"Sorry guys, I got to go for a bit if a run, my legs are stiff from sitting in an odd position." As Lucien jogged out the door, his friends looked at him oddly, but they just shrugged it off.

Lucien ran flat out to get to the restaurant. He didn't even bother to use any short cuts since most of them went up hill in this direction. When he reached the restaurant though, all of the lights were out. The sign on the door said, "Closed for renovations" and there were sounds of construction around back. For a minute Lucien just stared at the door in dismay. _How am I supposed to find out if my hunch is right if I can't find a news report? _

On the way back to the card store, Lucien took all of the short cuts. He did this not because he was short on time (as he was walking rather slowly) but because he needed somewhere dark to brood. On the curb of one of the alleys that he was using as a short cut, an old lady sat knitting, and listening to a battery powered radio. Lucien heard it announce the name of the local news station, and he immediately stopped to listen.

radio "And over at the Main Street Bridge, there is a teenager threatening to jump off of the new observation box. According to witnesses, his name is Larron Cooper. He is refusing to come down. He has been standing on the railing of the observation box. And now, back to the weather." _I HATE IT WHEN I'M RIGHT. I need to get over their and get Larron down. But if I go over there, I will be eliminated due to absence from the tournament. I will just have to beat my next opponent quickly, get out to the bridge, stop Larron, and get back. I have some lofty goals, but I intend to complete the task at hand._

Lucien started to run back to the shop. He skidded into the parking lot of the card shop, and ran in the door. He was just in time. The next round was being announced by Mr. Dongard.

"Lucien vs. Ray table one Lilly vs. Ethan table two…" Lucien went to table one again and sat down. Even after their names were called, Aliya and Raoul stayed by the front, frantically searching for Lucien. Seeing them, Lucien waved to let them know that he was back. He then sat down at his table to await the arrival of his opponent. Before his opponent arrived however, he started to exchange cards with his side deck. _I will need to win this fast. And in any case, many of the combos that I am using now are not going to be effective against those who have made it this far. I am going to take out Rope of Life, and Forced Requisition for sure. I originally meant to side out Assault on GHQ but seeing how well it has served me so far, maybe…_

Moments after he finished exchanging cards, his opponent arrived. He walked up and sat down with a smile on his face saying,

"Hey, my name's Ray, you're Lucien right?"

"Yes it is, nice to meet you Ray. Shall we get started?"_ Finally, I have a normal opponent. The rest were all kinda freaky._

"Sure, I'll flip a coin, okay?"

"Fine. I call heads." Ray flipped the coin, and after several mid-air turns, it landed on tails.

"I'll go first." They both drew their starting hands, and Ray drew his sixth card and announced his move.

"I'll start off by setting three cards face down, playing a field spell face down, and setting a monster. Then I will play Different Dimension Capsule, in two turns it will be removed from play and I will pick a card from my deck and remove it as well, but you don't get to see it; then after two more turns, I get to add it to my hand. That is all." _He set his entire hand on his first turn? That is a dangerous move, but with my hand I can't do much about it._

"Ok, I will set a monster—" Before he could continue, Ray interrupted.

"I chain with Light of Intervention. Now we may no longer set monsters so your monster is summoned face up." _Blast, I depend on my flip effects. Good thing that I took some out with my side decking, and added in additional methods._

"Fine then, I will summon Morphing Jar (700/600) in defense mode. Then I will set three cards and end my turn."

"I will start off by playing Stumbling. Now whenever we summon monsters, they are automatically switched to defense mode. Then I will flip up my Dancing Fairy (1700/1000). It is switched to defense mode by Stumbling. Now during my standby phases, I will gain 1000 life points. To end, I will activate the face down field spell, Chorus of Sanctuary. Your turn." _I need some of those cards that I side decked, and I'm not drawing them. This will have to do for now._

"First of all, I will play Mystical Space Typhoon on your Stumbling. Now I will summon Raging Flame Sprite (100/200). I will attack your life points directly with its effect." Ray looked at his face down cards but did nothing.

Lucien: 8000

Ray: 7900

"Then I chain Robbin' Zombie to the damage, so you have to discard the top card of your deck. Also when it attacks directly, it permanently gains 1000 attack." Ray slipped the top card of his deck to the grave.

"Is that all?"

"Almost, I set another card, and I will end my turn."

"I will chain Solemn Wishes to my draw. I gain 500 life points."

Lucien: 8000

Ray: 8400

"During my standby phase I gain 1000 life points because of Dancing Fairy."

Lucien: 8000

Ray: 9400

"Also during my standby phase, I remove Different Dimension Capsule from play along with a card from my deck. Then I will play Pot of Greed, and because of Solemn Wishes I gain 500 life points as well as drawing two cards."

Lucien: 8000

Ray: 9900

"Then I summon Spirit of the Breeze (0/1800), in attack mode, and end." _It may not be new, but it will do the trick._

"I will tribute my Morphing Jar for The End of Anubis. Now, I will have my monster attack Spirit of the Breeze."

"I will activate one of my strongest cards, Wall of Revealing Light. Now I can pay any multiple of 1000 life points and any monsters with attack equal to or less than that amount can not attack me. Now, just to be safe, I will pay 5000 life points for it."

Lucien: 8000

Ray: 4400

"I think I see now. You stop all of my attacks with that, and you gain life points to make up for the cost. However, that only prevents me from beating you in the traditional fashion. It does nothing to advance you."

"We will see, now continue your move."

"Fine, I will end my turn."

"Interesting, all of my opponents so far have tried to destroy it immediately, or have tried to make their monsters strong enough to get over it in that turn. You however merely take it lying down. I'm not sure whether I should be wary or if I should rejoice."

"If I were in your position, I would be wary. However I am always wary so that is not necessarily the best guide." Ray laughed.

"Ha ha! Well, I will take advantage of that. First after I draw I gain 500 life points."

Lucien: 8000

Ray: 4900

"Then I gain 1000 each from Spirit of the Breeze and Dancing Fairy."

Lucien: 8000

Ray: 6900

"As for the offensive, you of all people should know that a good defense can be the best offense. I summon White Magician Pikeru. Now during my standby phases I gain 400 life points for each monster on my side of the field. I will also set one card face down. That will be all." _If I was trying to win in the traditional fashion all the life gain would be trouble. But right now it is Light of Intervention that is bothering me. I can't to a bloody thing! _

"There is very little that I can do, so I will end my turn." _I'm not entirely sure that I can win this. I will give it a turn or two more. If I find that I have no hope of winning, I will surrender. Larron's life is more important than denting my honor with surrender. _

"Really? Most people try to build up a field presence, to prepare for what they see as the inevitable attack, everyone else has done something to try and stop me. You just sit there. Most people would show some stress under the duress of inability. Most people..." Lucien had been glaring at Ray all through this. After a few sentences, his eyes started to grow close together and to transform into mere slits through which his usually hazel eyes peered out through now looking more like the blue frost forming on a lake during a blizzard. By the time Ray finished the third sentence, he cracked. He stood up and started shouting.

"Since you haven't figured this out yet, I'm not "most people"; in fact I am quite different from most people. There are more important things to me than just winning this duel, and I just need it to be over. If you are going to win, do it quickly. Regardless, stop making your foolish assumptions and make your move!" People from around the room turned to stare, but as Lucien glared around the room, they turned away. Ray started stuttering a reply.

"I… I am sorry if I have offended you but—"

"NOW!" Lucien slammed his hand down on the table so hard that a boy at the next table who had recently straightened his massive deck, and had just moved to draw a card soon had his deck all over his lap. Ray visibly cowed, drew his next card.

"I gain 500 life points when I draw."

Lucien: 8000

Ray: 7400

"In my standby phase I gain 1000 from Spirit of the Breeze, 1000 from Dancing Fairy, and 1200 from White Magician Pikeru. I also get the card that was removed from play with Different Dimension Capsule."

Lucien: 8000

Ray: 10600

"I will activate my face down trap, DNA Transplant and I will make all of our monsters have a light attribute. Then I will summon Fire Princess." _Here is the card that can do damage. In his deck, this is deadly. At this rate I will be taking 2000 damage a turn. That gives me 4 turns to retaliate. But that is just assuming that nothing else goes wrong._

"I will then activate my other trap, Solar Ray, which does 600 damage for every light monster on my side of the field." _Yep, something went wrong. That takes one turn off my life._

Lucien: 5600

Ray: 10600

"Then I will play Goblin Thief, you lose 500 and I gain 500. Then because I gain life, you lose 500 more." _That doesn't reduce the number of turns, but if he gets another card like that it will._

Lucien: 4600

Ray: 11100

"That will be all." _Why won't my strategy work? It is so outside of the box that it has beaten everyone else._

"I have nothing, therefore I end." _I can't do anything. I am drawing cards but none of them help any. I can't win by getting cards one-by-one. I need to get a lot, but I'm not sure if two cards from Pot of Greed or even three from Graceful Charity would help. This is hopeless, it will be over so fast that there is no point in surrendering; I might as well keep a smidgen of honor._

"Hahaha, you aren't so different from the rest, are you? In the end you lose just the same."

"I hate repeating myself. If you are so sure that you are going to win, go ahead and do it quickly."

"If you insist; I draw. I gain 500 so you lose 500."

Lucien: 4100

Ray: 11600

"During my standby phase, I gain 1000 from Dancing Fairy, 1000 from Spirit of the Breeze, and 1600 from White Magician Pikeru. You lose 500 for each one."

Lucien: 2600

Ray: 15200

"Now I will play Sanctuary in the Sky, destroying Chorus of Sanctuary. You must have figured this out already being and intelligent person, but the only card that I need to beat you now is one of my Agents. Summon Spirit of the Breeze in attack mode, and that will be all." _How am I going to beat this guy? I will only have 100 life points after his next standby phase. Even if I managed to not loose, all he needs is one of his more powerful Agents, and I loose any how. There is no hope for me in this duel, and I have been stalling for so long, that odds are there is no hope for Larron either… because I was so stupid, he will loose his life. All hope is lost, for both of us…_

_/Flashback/_

"_All hope is never lost."… _

Note: First of all I would like to thank all of my reviewers. You guys are the best! This chapter may be a little short because I have learned about something called suspense and wanted to include some.

Rex: Thank you for that advice. I will make sure to use it.

Sdrive: Yeah, I finally got that fixed. He didn't tell Raoul about the fight because he doesn't want to get his friends involved with his problems.

John: That was possibly the least concise review ever. I'm glad that you liked the quote though.

Zenryo: Why on earth do you have a study hall so early in the day? That was funny review though (seriously, I practically was rolling on the floor laughing) and I will see what I can do, but what do you have against exclamation points! The name of the game has one. See? Yu-gi-oh****And I think that my apostrophe key works. I just don**'**t like conjunctions. ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' yeah, it works alright. And we talked through the rest, so that's covered.

Peace Writer: Sorry for the grammar mistakes, I think I forgot to run spell check. I know the errata for Forced Requisition and I almost had him play Graceful Charity before that, but then Sinister Serpent would already have been in the grave and that would have mucked things up. So once again, I ignored Upper deck's ruling. Keep telling me when I do that though, because I like to avoid it where possible. For some reason your review got sent twice (at least it appeared in my mailbox twice) but whatever.


	6. Nightmare Wheel

Tournament of Souls- Regionals

Quote of the Day: "Nothing is the basis of everything, just as order is the basis of chaos." –my interpretation of a lecture given by Elmore James.

"_Hahaha, you aren't so different from the rest, are you? In the end you lose just the same." _

_"I hate repeating myself. If you are so sure that you are going to win, go ahead and do it quickly."_

_"If you insist; I draw. I gain 500 so you lose 500."_

_Lucien: 4100_

_Ray: 11600_

_"During my standby phase, I gain 1000 from Dancing Fairy (1700/1500), 1000 from Spirit of the Breeze (0/1800), and 1600 from White Magician Pikeru (1200/500)). You lose 500 for each one."_

_Lucien: 2600_

_Ray: 15200_

_"Now I will play Sanctuary in the Sky, destroying Chorus of Sanctuary. You must have figured this out already being and intelligent person, but the only card that I need to beat you now is one of my Agents. Summon Spirit of the Breeze in attack mode, and that will be all." (How am I going to beat this guy? I will only have 100 life points after his next standby phase. Even if I managed to not loose, all he needs is one of his more powerful Agents, and I loose any how. There is no hope for me in this duel, and I have been stalling for so long, that odds are there is no hope for Larron either… because I was so stupid, he will loose his life. All hope is lost, for both of us…)_

/Flashback/

"All hope is never lost." Lucien said into the phone. "I'll be over right away."

"How can you be so sure? You're sister isn't going crazy. Do you have any idea how many stashes of drugs we found? And now that I'm here, my family has already called trying to get me to come back." Said a female voice on the other side of the phone.

"I don't have a sister. As for how I am sure, I will have to use a metaphor. Look at the game of Duel Monsters. If you build your deck right, you will always have a chance to win."

"But this is life, not Duel Monsters. In any case, where would my deck be?"

"Right now, you just got a decent top deck; me."

"But Lucien, what's the point? Why shouldn't I just jump off the balcony of the hotel room? What are you supposed to do when you have no reason to live, but to die?"

"If you have no reason to live for yourself, you should live for the sake of the next guy, for the people who look up to you, who depend on you. Don't say that there is no such person, there always is whether you know it or not. In this case, I am that person."

"Lucien…"

"I'll be right over."

/ End Flashback /

_There is a way, I just need to find it…My deck isn't working as it is supposed to, so it is time to move it outside of the box that it has created. _

"Draw. I will now play the Card Destruction that I set down as a bluff. Now I discard my hand and draw four cards." Lucien looked at his cards, his face blank.

"I will discard my only card and draw one…" Ray grinned as he saw his new card.

"And you are doomed." _Just my luck, he must have drawn one of his Agents._

"We will see about that. Now I will activate the effects of one of the cards that I discarded. Night Assailant (200/300) when discarded allows me to take one flip effect monster from my graveyard and add it to my hand. I will return Morphing Jar (600/700). Now I will activate Nobleman of Extermination on your face down card." Ray paled.

"It was Fake Trap. So now it is removed from play, right?"

"It and every other copy in your deck." Ray searched out two others, and placed them to the side.

"Now I will play Lightning Vortex. I will discard Morphing Jar to destroy all monsters on your side of the field."

"No!" Now Ray was turning white as a sheet. _Why is he so afraid of loosing? He has nothing to loose. Nothing like what Raoul will loose if I don't hurry._

"Get over it. Now I will tribute my Raging Flame Sprite (1100/100) for Vampire Lord (2000/1500). I will also set two cards face down. That will be all. Not so confident now are you sunny?" Ray was too petrified to even complain about the pun.

"I…" Ray picked up a card from his deck and did nothing.

"Come now, make your move." At seeing the disgust on Lucien's face, Ray finally calmed himself.

"I will play Premature Burial; I will revive Dancing Fairy by paying 800 life points."

Lucien: 2600

Ray: 14400

"I will now tribute Dancing Fairy for your doom!" Lucien's poker face remained in-tact.

"Does my doom have a name?" He sounded exactly like a parent asking exactly who "the guys" or "my friends" who you want to go to a party with are.

"Its name is…" Ray paused for suspense.

"Agent of Judgment- Saturn! Now my angel-" Ray was addressing his card as if it was his sweet heart. Lucien was clearly sick of it as he cut him off.

"I hate to ruin the moment, but I will chain to the summoning with Solemn Judgment. It is negated, and I pay half of my life points."

Lucien: 1300

Ray: 14400

Ray looked to be on the verge of tears, but as he looked at the field he quickly shook it off.

"It means nothing! I have a huge amount of life points, and you have next to none! And my Wall of Revealing Light is stopping all of your attacks!"

"If you are so confident, end your turn."

"Fine, I end." Lucien picked up a card.

"I will set a card, and I will chain that with Dust Tornado on your Wall of Revealing Light." Even as he destroyed Ray's last defense, Lucien's face remained blank.

"Now I will attack your life points with both The End of Anubis and Vampire Lord."

Lucien: 1300

Ray: 9900

"By Vampire Lord's effect, I will have you discard a trap card from your deck." Ray searched out and discarded a Light of Intervention.

"That will be all." Lucien finished, and Ray was pale and sweaty. If he had tried to get out of school sick, he might have succeeded.

"I will set a card, and end my turn." Ray almost dropped the card as he set it due to the shaking of his hands.

"I will play Bait Doll on your face down card." It was revealed to be Mirror Force.

"It is destroyed and Bait Doll returns to my deck. Now I will repeat my attack."

Lucien: 1300

Ray: 5400

"You must discard another trap for Vampire Lord." This time Ray discarded a Light of Judgment.

"End." Ray hesitantly drew his card.

"I will play Tremendous Fire. I pay 500 life points and you lose 1000!"

Lucien: 300

Ray: 4900

"End." Ray had gained a little confidence from his last move.

"Is that all you can pull?" Lucien sounded blank, hypnotized almost, and as devoid of emotion as the table that they played on.

"If so, than this will end fast. I will set a card. I will attack once more. Discard a spell; you don't have enough life for me to care about Wall of Revealing Light."

Lucien: 300

Ray: 400

"Now I will end." Ray grinned as he saw his next card.

"I will summon a monster that pales only before Saturn! I summon Agent of Force – Mars (0/0) (100/100). Now attack!"

"What's wrong with you? Or did you not get the memo, your monster is pathetic, it only has attack equal to the difference in our life point if yours are greater. Well, yours are greater all right, by a hundred! I am merciful, I will activate Magic Cylinder. You survive through your own turn. (Mars (0/0))

Lucien: 300

Ray: 300

Ray muttered to himself as he waved at Lucien to take his turn.

"I will attack with The End of Anubis. You lose."

Lucien: 300

Ray: 0

Lucien cleared his cards and shoved them into his deck box. He ran towards the board where he hoped Raoul and Aliya were, not noticing that Ray was trying to say something to him. He saw that only Aliya was at the board, looking at the note that said there was a one hour break after the round ends.

"Aliya! Where's Raoul?" Aliya looked at Lucien, worried.

"He's over at the vending machine getting a snack, why?"

"I'll tell you later." He dashed through the store to get to the front door where the vending machine was, right next to the counter, Aliya following behind.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Aliya saw Raoul he was struggling with the vending machine, evidently it had just eaten his…

"My quarter! You stupid hunk of junk! You stole my quarter! I needed that piece of candy!" Raoul started kicking the machine but turned as Lucien walked up to him.

"Hey Lucien, what's wrong? Did you lose your duel?" Aliya mentally cursed herself for not considering this possibility. _But how could Lucien lose? He was the one who made me a true duelist, not a mere shuffler of cards. Without him I wouldn't have made it this far. If he can lose what chance do the rest of us have?_

"No, I didn't lose. It was a close thing though." _Good, we can still win this. All of us… All I have to do is win two more duels and I will still be in the top ten…But what if I don't? I lost this duel, why not another? I couldn't even beat Amy…_

"What's wrong then?" Raoul looked confused and had completely forgotten about his lost quarter.

"It's Larron. I figured it out. He is going to commit suicide by jumping off of the Main Street Bridge. He's standing on the observation box that they just put in recently. We need to hurry." Lucien started to pull Raoul out the door. As soon as they got out, Aliya started to follow, but stopped when she saw the emotions go through Raoul's eyes, from surprise to disbelief, from disbelief to shock, and from shock to fear. Then they changed from fear, to fury. He broke away from Lucien and started yelling. Aliya flew through the door and heard him.

"Why didn't you tell me? Thanks to you he could be dead!" Lucien's face had become a cold mask that showed no sign of emotion, or humanity. _I've seen him like this before. Once when my mom had given him a ride home from a tournament that ran late, his mother was really mad at him. Evidently he hadn't been there when his uncle had arrived. He just stood there as she yelled at him, and he left the prize cards that he had won in the car. Later when I tried to give them back to him, he told me to keep them… like they were contaminated. _

"Raoul, please think through this rationally." Lucien's voice was an even monotone.

"Rationally? Rationally! My brother could be dead and you want me to be rational!"

"Yes, I do. Odds dictate that since he didn't jump off the bridge as soon as he got their, that he is having second thoughts. Then if we wait, just a little while, then he will have had enough second thoughts for us to convince him to come down. Would Larron want you to give up the opportunity to be a champion, just to get him to loose his life prematurely?" At this Raoul slumped against the wall, brooding. Seeing this, Lucien grabbed his arm.

"But if you don't stop brooding about it instead of getting out their and doing something, he'll just die any how. So come on, we have to catch the bus; one of the stations is near the bridge." Lucien looked toward Aliya, so she got up and helped pull Raoul up, and toward the bus stop, until Lucien ran ahead to stop the bus. After Lucien had stopped the bus, Raoul straightened up, and jogged the rest of the way, Aliya panting to keep up.

They got on the bus, and headed toward the back. Lucien sat down on Raoul's left, and Aliya at Raoul's right. It would be a good 20 minutes or so, at best until they got to the bridge. That meant that they had about 20 minutes to get Larron down from the bridge, and then 20 to get back. _But Mr. Kiwasaki will understand… but will Mr. Dongard. He is the official head of the tournament after all. _Raoul was bent over, crying softly holding his head between his knees. Lucien looked over him to Aliya, and nodded toward Raoul. Aliya understood immediately. _Lucien never did have good people skills. When someone cries, generally he is embarrassed, and tries to find someone else to help them… I'm the only exception. _So Aliya put her arm around Raoul and tried to comfort him. Meanwhile Lucien gazed out the window.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_If Larron dies, it's all my fault. I should have just forgotten about the tournament, and gone to save him. No matter what I may have said about the odds, if we had planned it right, we could have stopped him. Its too late…_Then another voice spoke out in Lucien's head. Lucien generally suppressed this part of him; it was too outspoken, and to logical. _**If he has died, then brooding about it won't help much now will it? **No, but if he has died, nothing else will help either. **That's a big if. Now, what's that saying? Hope for the best, but plan for the worst? Well, that's inaccurate. What it should say to be an intelligent aphorism is, "Hope for the best, prevent the worst, plan for both." Now that would be helpful. Now rather than brooding, why don't you start planning how to save Larron? **Ok. _So as Lucien was watching the world go by through the bus window, he planned. He planned for every possible eventuality.

The bus however, never reached the Main Street Bridge station. There were cars parked in the street for almost a block before the bridge, media vans, police cars, and spectators. _Spectators! It's hard to believe that there are people so dissatisfied with their lives, that they want to see another person end theirs. _Lucien got Raoul's arm over his shoulder and nodded to Aliya. She knew exactly what Lucien would have said, and she said it. "Excuse me sir, this bus isn't going to be getting any farther, so would you kindly open the doors?" Except that she asked as a question. Lucien wouldn't have put in a question mark.

As the bus driver opened the door Lucien lead Raoul out, until he tore himself away from Lucien and started to run to the bridge. Lucien raised his eye brows at Aliya and saw that she got the message, "Think fast, run faster." So then as she started running and Lucien turned to follow Raoul.

Lucien had to sprint to catch up to Raoul, as he had gotten a decent lead, but wasn't running all out. Raoul had enough distance training to pace him, even in this emergency. When Lucien reached him, Raoul slowed down to a walk, and Aliya caught up to them. Panting, she noted the obvious thing that both Lucien and Raoul had missed.

"Where's Larron?" She pointed up to the observation box where Larron should have been- it was empty. Lucien and Raoul spoke simultaneously.

"No." All three of them ran together to some of the police officers blocking the road. Raoul almost started yelling at them, but sensing that he would be too hysterical to be of much assistance to Larron, if he wasn't already beyond help; Lucien stopped him and let Aliya speak.

"Excuse me, where is Larron… has he jumped?" A kindly police officer looked at her and replied.

"He went into the observation box just as the lights went off, and that's the strangest thing. The lights are all on one system, but the lights at the bottom are still on." This time Lucien spoke.

"Couldn't he have broken them?" The police officer shook his head.

"Nope, couldn't have been. All of the lights at the top and for a little ways down turned off at the same time. Unless your friend has some eighty ghostly arms, he couldn't have broken them all at once." Lucien looked back up at the observation box. The windows were dark as pitch, and the entire top of the tower on which it stood seemed somehow darker than the rest of the world, as if all light was eclipsed before it could bring any brightness or joy. _**Joy? Why am I associating an emotion with the lights being turned off? **Because light isn't the only thing that is absent from that box. There isn't any happiness, or hope. _Lucien was glad that he had planned on the bus; he was going to need all of them.

"Ok, we need to realize our goal here. Get Larron down and safe at all costs. Aliya, you and Raoul take the stairs in the tower up to the observation box; we can't risk the elevator because if the lights are out, odds are it won't work either. I'll go up stairs that go around the outside, we're lucky that they didn't take them down after they finished building. I'll prevent Larron from jumping out the window from the outside, as the stairs go up to the platform where he was trying to jump from. You two will talk him out of it, and if necessary, hold him back. Got it?" Lucien felt like a foot ball coach, but both Aliya and Raoul nodded, and headed off towards the tower entrance.

Lucien circumvented the crowd, as where he wanted to go wasn't in the midst of it like the tower doors were. Once he was all the way around, he walked to the back of the tower and started climbing the stairs. Lucien estimated that the tower was about 13 stories high, and for the first few stories it was fairly easy. But as he got higher, the wind blew harder, and it was hard to keep his balance. The outside railing was broken at some points, so he had to cling to the railing along the wall. The stairs themselves weren't too secure either, they hadn't been fortified for use as a fire escape yet, so the wind blew them around a bit too, and at times, the staircase could be blown as much as 2 feet away from the railing and the wall. When that happened Lucien crawled up, climbing the stairs like a diagonal ladder, never letting go, but never stopping either. Because of his friends' trouble getting through the crowd, he got to the top first. When he reached the platform and saw what was in the box, he realized that he had planned for every possible eventuality. But not the impossible one that was before his eyes.

_No…_

Aliya and Raoul approached the door to the observation box. About 2 flights down, the lights were all off, and even if it hadn't been a time of grief, they wouldn't have been able to smile. The air itself seemed sad. Aliya got to the door first, when she opened it, she had her eyes closed, afraid of what she might see. When she opened her eyes, she was so shocked, that she slammed the door behind her, and left her hand on the knob, frozen in place effectively locking it. In front of her, she could see blackness, but in that shadow, she saw Larron, and a woman with red hair. There was a demonic looking knight on a black horse between them, and then she realized, _This is a duel! But there are no projectors, how? They are wearing duel disks, but they don't appear to be functioning as anything but a board for the cards. _As she thought this her hand dropped from the door knob and Raoul burst into the room just in time to see the knight plunge his spear into Larron, and fling him out the window. As this happened, the shadows began to clear, and they could see Lucien on the observation deck, with Larron's body flying right at him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucien couldn't dodge the body, so he go knocked into the railing; luckily it was one of the stronger portions. Larron's body however, went past him and started the fall into the river. Instinctively, Lucien grabbed for Larron's wrist but was almost pulled over the railing, and had to let go. Aliya and Raoul ran to the railing with him, but the body had disappeared, long before it should have hit the water, and there was a sound like a small explosion that disturbed the water below, as if a large amount of air had been displaced. Lucien looked toward Raoul, and led him back into the observation box. There were cards all over the floor where they had fallen out of Larron's duel disk, most of them torn. The woman with the red hair had disappeared along with the darkness. But in the corner, wedged under one of the telescopes near a window, were three cards that hadn't been ripped. Lucien saw them and motioned for Raoul to pick them up. He did and almost smiled when he saw them.

"Our favorite cards" he said. "Our rarest cards too. Barrel Dragon is mine, Blowback Dragon is his. The other one came from a pack that we decided to split the contents of, because it was the last pack of the bunch that we got. Gatling Dragon." Lucien saw the tears coming to his eyes, and nodded at Aliya, and they each took one of his arms and led him down to the bottom, to deal with the police. Lucien had already decided. The police weren't going to know that anything strange had happened. They would have seen the disturbed water and assumed that the body had fallen into it.

Once he was sure that Raoul was going to go the rest of the way down stairs with Aliya, he went back up, and collected all the shredded cards. There was nothing more valuable than Polymerization, and there were no playable cards remaining. Lucien could tell that Larron ran a machine deck when he saw 7 completed, but scolded himself for thinking about duel monsters at a time like this, and finished picking up the cards, and put them in his various pockets. What the police didn't know wouldn't hurt them, especially because if they did know, it wouldn't help anyone. Just get them in an asylum for the mentally ill. Lucien started to think that he shouldn't go to the rest of the tournament in light of recent events but then he thought again.

**_Why not? After all, he was killed through these cards. Maybe I can find a way to- no, not save him, that would be preposterous. But stop it from happening again. Two people lost to this game is two too many. _**With that decided, Lucien hurried down stairs to support Raoul, and get back to the tournament as fast as possible. It was their best chance of catching this person. Everybody who is anybody in the dueling world is going to be in this tournament series. If this person is good enough to take two peoples lives like this, they are good enough to be up in the higher rankings of the tournament.

_I'm coming for you, and when I find you, you won't have time to be afraid._

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's note: sorry for being so late with this, I was out of town for 2 weeks with only a 4 hour break at home (that I was awake for at least) during which I re-packed after washing all of my clothes.

Rex: Yes, all Italics as of yet are Lucien thinking unless it is clearly from another character's point of view. (Like when it focuses on Raoul or Aliya). Yeah, the Stumbling thing was an error on my part. As for who was talking, I will try to fix that. Thank your for tolerating my mistakes.

Zenryo: Yes, but that is his personality (to do things on his own that is).

Sdrive: I realize that it seems strange, but Lucien is thinking far ahead; first of all it is against the odds that he will be able to stop Larron from jumping. Second of all, this is a once in a life time opportunity, if they go to save Larron, they will be eliminated and Lucien realizes that they shouldn't ruin their lives to save Larron, seeing as if #1 is true and they can't save him in any case.

John: Yeah, it looks tough, but as you saw, he made it through

Peace Writer: I guess I just disagree with the rulings associated with continuous traps in general. And trust me; even if Lucien got eliminated I could keep the story going… seeing as (unfortunately) some other characters that are eliminated return, so it isn't impossible. But no more spoilers.


	7. 6 Feet Over

Tournament of Souls- Regional

Quarter Finals

"Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick our selves up." Mr. Wayne from Batman Begins

On the bus ride back, Lucien checked his wallet. He would have to walk back from the tournament as he had used all of the money that he had brought on bus fares for the three of them. After they had eluded the police, they had boarded the bus and sat in the back, separately. They were each to worried that someone would want to talk about it. Raoul sat in the row of seats along the back. Aliya and Lucien sat across the aisle from each other.

He still didn't quite believe what he had seen. It was impossible, but it had happened. And he had been powerless to stop it. He had planned for every thing that could have happened. But what had happened couldn't have happened, shouldn't have happened and wouldn't have happened if-

_**If what? There is nothing that I could have done. **I could have attacked that woman, I could have stopped the duel, and saved Larron_. _**If she had the power to get monsters up there, I don't think she would have a problem stopping me. **Where did the monsters come from any way? They must have been robots. **Yes, of course. They have started making robots that can disappear taking their owner and a body half way to the water with them. Or was she a robot too? What about Larron? Was he just a replica? Then where is the real one? **Well they could have been... ok maybe not... Wait, I know! The monsters were holograms! **Where did you get that idea Einstein? Where did they come from then, just incase you didn't notice, the duel disks were turned off. I've seen enough of them on tv to know the difference. They must have had some different kind of programming though, because normally they are only fully extended when on. Or the power outage some how affected them and caused them to turn off when they were already extended. **There must have been projectors in the observation tower. **I would have seen them, they use light to make the holograms and that would have given away the location. **Not if they were also making the... shadows around the duel. Then any light would have been hidden. **I see the point. How would the projectors know what was in play though? The duel disks were off after all. **They were probably a new model of duel disk made to work with that system. They look like they are off, but in reality they are just serving as an information relay to the projectors. **How would these hypothetical projectors work if all the power where they would have to have been was out? They need electricity too. **They were probably the reason that the power was out. They need a lot of energy and they hadn't prepared the power grid of the tower well enough for it yetso it took all the electricity out of the surrounding lights until it had enough. **If that was true, then all the lights would have been out. They were all on one system remember? Odds are that the projectors would have gone out to. It happens all the time in the kitchen at home. You can never run the toaster and the microwave that the same time or the circuit breaker will pop and the kitchen power will go out taking both appliances with it. **It was secret though. Maybe it can overload the system and use all the power, but no one told anyone who didn't need to know! **Admittedly that is possible. Why would the projector be there in the first place? The board of public entertainment and tourism didn't even want to put in the tower, why would they spend even more money on a duel monsters projector! **Yes, but remember why they ended up putting it up? Generous donations from Kaiba Corp. They do all kinds of big tournaments like Battle City right? They are probably planning one here. **Ok dreamer, time to return to the real world. Kaiba Corp. is a huge multinational company based in Japan. Now why would they want a tournament here, out of anywhere in the world. We are so close to D.C. that they would just hold it there instead! In any case, no one would make it here. Who would come to a place called West City on the EAST Coast? **Why would there be a projector up their then? **Simple – There wasn't. **Then how? **There is no way that I can figure that out. It is something far beyond my power to comprehend. The only thing that I can do is fight it. **How? **How did it ... do whatever it is that it did to Larron? It dueled him, and he lost. If we ever have to duel for those stakes, we must win. The one who is doing this is a duelist. She will be in the tournament circuit. We need to keep on rising through the ranks until we beat her at her own game. **Wait a second, let me think this out like a sane, logical person. This person can somehow pull of the impossible, and is also a terrific duelist. Now if I was an intelligent, sane, logical person, I would tell the police and let them handle it, and if I met her in the tournament circuit, I would drop out so I wouldn't suffer the same fate as Larron. **But then again, who said I was a logical person? I'm going to do it. She has taken two to many lives. Now its Larron, but I can assume that Alexandra suffered the same fate looking at the state of her hotel room when I found her... **_

Lucien fingered the bracelet that he had found there. He glanced back at Raoul to see how he was doing. Raoul was holding his head in his hands and staring at the floor between his knees- the image of mourning. Lucien then looked over at Aliya. She was staring out the window, her eyes red from crying. There was an obvious reason for this – she was mourning Larron's apparent demise. Lucien thought otherwise though. Aliya was a caring person, if she was mourning Raoul's brother, than she would be over there mourning him with Raoul and comforting him. _No. _Lucien thought. _It must be something else. But what? _

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucien was right. Although Aliya was shocked, scared, and deeply saddened by Larron's fate, she has other things on her mind. She had just gone through a similar though process to Lucien's, and had come to the same conclusion – That what had happened up there was impossible, as magic doesn't exist. She had also realized that in order to fight the one who had done it, she would need to duel them. That was where she had encountered a problem.

_If I need to duel that woman for my life, how do I know that I will win? I lost to Amy. The one who is doing this is clearly an expert duelist, otherwise she wouldn't be able to do what she does. If I loose to some girl off the street, what chance do I have against an expert? Even if I do win two more duels, that will mean that I am in the top 10, and I might be picked for the team to go to the state championships. The only way I'll be picked though is if Lucien or Raoul wins and picks me, no body else will pick the 9th or 10th place duelist. If they pick me for the team, I'll just weigh them down. It would be better if they chose a duelist who could stand up to that woman... like Amy... _Aliya imagined what would happen with Amy on the team. They would take the world by storm, and Lucien and Raoul would adore her... in the meantime Aliya would be at home catching the duels on television.

"Hey Aliya, what's wrong?" Lucien inquired as he sat down next to Aliya, stopping her reverie

"Do you really need to ask? After what we just saw?" Aliya was clearly irritated that Lucien knew that she was upset. _He always knows when something's wrong, and he always comes to help. Sure it's nice of him, but someday I will have to fend for myself._

"Are you saying that the only thing that is upsetting you is Larron's demise?"

"Isn't that reason enough?" Aliya said softly, still trying in vain to convince Lucien that nothing was amiss.

"Yes, but if that was the case, you would sympathize with Raoul, and be over by him instead of on your own. Do I have to guess why?" Aliya remained silent and stared at the floor, so Lucien, rather than taking the hint and going away, started guessing.

"You asked Mr. Dongard, and found out that you are matched up against Amy in the first round." Aliya looked up, shocked. _How could he have gotten so close? Am I that easy to predict. _However, to Lucien's dismay, she shook her head.

"You lost your duel?" Aliya was staring at him, eyes open wide in surprise. He got the hint.

"You lost your last duel to Amy?" Aliya nodded meekly.

"Aliya, think this through. It isn't the end of the world. Just win two more duels, and you will be in 10th place, if you win three, 9th. Either one of those scenarios, and you can still be on the team. If I win, I'll pick you, if Raoul wins, he'll pick you. And even if someone else wins, they might just pick you. It doesn't matter that you lost to Amy, just win two more duels, and you will be on to the state championship." Aliya spoke, her voice quaking.

"But what if I don't win? If I lost to Amy, how am I supposed to beat two more people if I wasn't good enough to beat her." Lucien looked into her eyes for a bit, until Aliya looked away, embarrassed.

"Because, if I'm right, her deck was stacked against you. She knows your strategy, and would have kept cards in her side deck to stop you. Here in my guess at what happened. The duel was the usual back and forth with you ending up on top. You pull on of your massive damage combo's on her, and she counters with a Barrel Behind the Door and you lose." If it wasn't that she already was amazed at Lucien's ability to guess these things, Aliya would have fainted. But all she could do was nod.

"You'll be fine then Aliya. Just duel your best, and you will make top 10, and make the team." _That's what I'm worried about. If I make the team, I'll drag you and Raoul down. _Lucien seemed to think that was the end of the conversation, but Aliya spoke up.

"I'll keep dueling if you promise me one thing."

"That would depend on what it is. I would never walk off a cliff unless I knew there was a net ready to catch me." Aliya smiled a bit at his metaphore.

"Promise me that you won't select me for the team if you win."

"What? If I didn't select you for my team, I would be crippling myself! There would be one team mate that I couldn't completely trust, and we would never succeed. I need you. Plus, regardless of how many times you have lost against Amy, that doesn't matter. You are one of the best duelists that I know. Maybe you couldn't beat them, but I bet that you would stand a chance against Yugi Mouto, Seto Kaiba, or Joey Wheeler. Yeah, you heard me. The three best duelists out there, you could take them on and not be ashamed of yourself afterward. If I'm the team captain, I need you for the team."

"Do you mean that?" Lucien raised an eyebrow.

"When was the last time that I said something that I didn't mean?"

"When you said that you liked the sweater that your grandmother got you."

"Well I did... that is I would have if it was a few sizes larger so that it would fit me." They both laughed about that incident. After she got her breath back, Aliya said,

"Ok, I'll be on the team, with one condition."

"What would that be?"

"That you prove that you can lead us by comforting Raoul." Aliya nodded toward Raoul sitting in the back. Lucien looked nervous.

"I can't do that! You know fully well that I have never been any good at dealing with people, especially when their sad. I always try to make things seem logical, and it never works."

"You'll do just fine. The way he is now, you can't make it any worse. Either you go over there and help him, or I start looking up psychologists."

"Fine, just don't blame me when everything gets messed up." Lucien stood up, angry, but calmed down as he walked over to Raoul, sat down next to him and began to talk. Aliya couldn't hear what was said, but by the end, Raoul's spirit had returned.

As they exited the bus, they heard a fuss in the card store, and hurried to investigate. As they opened the door they heard Mr. Kiwasaki saying to Mr. Dongard,

"You can't eliminate them! I know these kids, they wouldn't have wandered off unless something important was going on." Mr. Kiwasaki was facing away from the door, but Mr. Dongard raised a hand to calm him and said,

"It is irrelevant, as they have arrived." The Japanese man turned, flustered.

"Where have you been! You've had me worried about you. I've had to use all my leverage to keep him from disqualifying you!" Before any of them could utter a simple, 'thank you', Mr. Dongard came up to them, and faced Mr. Kiwasaki, calm as ever.

"Excuse me Mr. Kiwasaki, but I will handle them." He turned back to Aliya and company.

"Do you have any reason why I shouldn't disqualify you?" Lucien spoke,

"We had some business to attend to."

"More important than your pathway to fame and glory? Two of you are in the top eight, and the third has the potential to top ten. What could be more important that you children had to attend to?" Before Lucien could retaliate, Raoul spoke up.

"We were attempting to prevent my brother from committing suicide. If you have been listening the local AM news station on the radio, you would know that he was about to jump off the main street bridge." Without any apparent remorse for his harshness Mr. Dongard responded.

"I am sorry about that. I am glad you were able to prevent it." This display of callousness, left even Raoul speechless, but it angered Aliya.

"We didn't stop him. He's dead."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I would understand completely if any of you would like to retract from the tournament." This was the last straw for Aliya, and she barely refrained from yelling.

"We are going to continue, now if you would be so kind, would you tell us who we are dueling?" If Mr. Dongard was offended by her sarcasm, he didn't show it.

"The pairings will be announced shortly. We were waiting for your arrival."

"Fine, now get out of our way, we have a tournament to take by storm." Aliya stormed past Mr. Dongard, with Lucien and Raoul trailing behind.

"Bastard." She whispered under her breath. Even though she had said it softly Lucien somehow heard her.

"Watch your language Aliya." This was an old joke between Lucien, and the entire school. Anytime anyone said anything even mildly vulgar, he would reprimand them. There are few things funnier than the principle addressing the school, and saying 'damn' when he couldn't find his notes, and from the congregated students, Lucien saying, 'No cursing sir!'.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucien smiled inwardly as he corrected Aliya's language. It looked like everyone was recovered from Larron's demise. Except Larron himself, but there was nothing that he could do about that. He sat down along with everyone else, and waited for the seating announcement to be made. After a few minutes, Mr. Dongard returned, and stood infront of the 16 people present, using the microphone even though it was clearly unessacery.

"Ok, the seating arrangements are as follows. At Table One, we have Lucien vs. Lily, Table Two, Amy vs. Todd, at Table Three, Raoul vs. Max, Table Four, Jonathan vs. Alicia. Now on to those who are attempting to make top ten, at Table Five, Aliya vs. Michel..." Lucien moved on to table on to face his next opponent.

His opponent was already there when he arrived. She had straight, blonde hair that reached past her shoulders, and she wore a pink shirt with a denim vest. Lucien sat down.

"Let's get started, shall we?" Lucien took out his deck and started to shuffle.

"Sure sweetie. Here, you can shuffle my deck." _Imitation Valley Girl accent, learn how for 35c, limited time offer. Really, are you here to duel, or to make a fashion statement? _Lucien passed her his deck, and shuffled hers. When she passed his back, she hadn't shuffled it, so Lucien shuffled it himself before drawing five cards. Lily drew six.

"Well lookie here, it looks like I drew six cards instead o' five. I'm sorry hun, but why don't I just take the first turn?"

"Don't call me 'hun'"

Lucien: 8000

Lily: 8000

"Ok, darlin' I'll just set two cards face down, and summon Cure Mermaid. That'll be all." Lucien was irritated that she had continued calling him names, but took his turn.

"I will set a monster and play Card Destruction. I will use my discarded Night Assailant's effect to bring back the Morphing Jar that I discarded. I'll set two cards as a finish. Your turn." Lily picked up her next card with a smile.

"First durin' my stand by phase, Cure Mermaid gives me 800 life points."

Lucien: 8000

Lily: 8800

"Now I'll play Swords of Revealin' Light. You can't attack for three turns, and as an added bonus, I get to see your monster."

Smiling, Lucien flipped over his Needle Worm.

"Gosh darn it! I loose the top five cards of my deck." Lucien noticed that one of the cards she discarded was a Life Absorbing Machine. _Why would that card be in her deck? She doesn't seem to have a lot of costs in it._

"Now I'll summon my favorite card, Injection Fairy Lily." _That would explain it._

"First I will reveal the continuous trap Life Absorbing Machine, which I run in triplicate. Now I'll attack your Needle Worm with my Cure Mermaid." Lucien flipped over one of his traps.

"I'm afraid that my Gravity Bind stops that. You probably shouldn't attack with your Injection Fairy Lily either, even though you can get through my Gravity Bind. That costs 2000 to get its attack high enough to get past my worm. As if you needed more of a reason, you wouldn't do damage."

"Well I guess I'm just stupid then, because I'm going to attack. I'm also going to raise its attack by 3000 by paying 2000 life points. I'll also activate Meteorain." _Oh boy, that means I take damage._

Lucien: 5200

Lily: 6800

"To finish my turn, I'll just set this card down. Your turn. Oh, and don't forget that I gain half of what I paid from Life Absorbing Machine." Lucien already knew Life Absorbing Machine's effect. What he was worried about is how he was going to pull off a deck-out. He wouldn't be able to use the Robbin' Zombie he had face down if he couldn't get direct damage in, and with Injection Fairy Lily there, he would just take damage afterward. With the set up that Lily had, she was effectively paying 200 life points for the effect. He would have to rely on flip effects. Lucien drew his card. _Bingo._

Lucien: 5200

Lily: 7800

"I'll set one card face down, and I will set a monster. End."

"Is that really all that you can do? I expected more at this level of competition. At the start of my turn, Cure Mermaid gives me life points."

Lucien: 5200

Lily: 8600

"I hope you've realized this, but I can pay for my Fairy Lily 'til the cows come home. Now I will just attack with my Lily, and since I get to wait until the damage step to activate the effect, I can see how strong your monster is before payin'!"

"That's fine by me, as my face down monster is Cyber Jar. If you know what's good for you, you won't activate Lily's effect. Its only 500 damage." Said Lucien as he flipped the card up.

Lucien: 5200

Lily: 8100

"Since it's been flipped, I've decided to tribute it to the trap card, Assault on GHQ. The effect still happens, but I get to send the top two cards of your deck to the grave. Oh, and since you activated it, after all of our- well your, monsters are destroyed, you have to draw your cards first." Lily drew five cards, and showed them to Lucien. Injection Fairy Lily, Graceful Charity, Fissure, Sangan, Life Absorbing Machine. She put both monsters in attack mode.

Lucien showed her his, he had gotten Vampire Lord, Morphing Jar, Pot of Greed, Needle Worm, Robbin' Zombie. He set both monster's face down. Lily didn't think about her next move, just took it.

"I'll attack the monster on the left with Sangan." Lucien flipped up Morphing Jar.

"What a waste, I loose Pot of Greed along with the rest. Shame."

"Well I just got a hand of good cards. Now Injection Fairy Lily, attack his other face down. Since I already know that it's Needle Worm, I'll pay."

Lucien: 5200

Lily: 6100

"I'll set a monster face down, and pass the turn to you hun." As Lily said the last word, Lucien's eye started to twitch, but Lily seemingly didn't notice. Lucien however, looked at his new hand, and was somewhat pleased.

"I will simply set a monster, and another card face down. That is all." _She may be confident, but I don't think she even sees my strategy._

"Really, I'd think you could do something to at least try and hurt me? In any case, I'll play Mystic Wok, so I can sacrifice my Sangan, and gain 1000 life points."

Lucien: 5200

Lily: 7100

"Then by Sangan's effect when it is sent to the graveyard, I will take my last Injection Fairy Lily from my deck, and add it to my hand." Lucien raised an eyebrow.

"Third? You only have one on the field."

"I'm afraid not sweetums, ya see, I'll flip my face down... Injection Fairy Lily!" _Oh boy, this is going to hurt. Good thing we don't have the holograms yet, or it would hurt more than just my life point score... but how much would getting stuck with a giant needle hurt?_

"Then I'll summon my final Lily, in attack mode. I'll also equip it with Fairy Meteor Crush. I'll have my new Fairy Lily attack your face down card!" Lucien flipped over a Needle Worm.

"That would by my last Needle Worm. I take it that you activate Lily's effect?"

"Of course I do dahlin'." _I don't care if I loose or win, just end this duel so I can escape the name calling._

Lucien: 2400

Lily: 5100

"Now I will attack for the win with my other Lily!" _Wha? I really aught to have paid more attention, I hadn't realized that she could have killed me so easily. Good thing I set this trap just in case._

"I'm afraid not, you see, I this trap. I activate Negate Attack! Your attack is negated, and your battle phase ended. Oh, and just incase you didn't know, your out of cards. That means that during your next draw phase you loose. I'll pass my turn. Good game." Lily was furious. Evidently she hadn't noticed how thin her deck was getting. At any rate, she had never thought of deck out as a legitimate win condition.

"What in tarnation!" Lily yelled, her face flushed.

"I want a judge! That can't be right." Mr. Dongard walked over.

"I am the presiding Head Judge. What is your query." Lily looked puzzled.

"What's a quarry got to do with this? I don't need no stones."

"Querry, it means an inquisition..." Lily was still baffled.

"What is your question. You called a judge, did you not?" Now that she could understand the plain language around her, Lily collected herself and got properly angry again.

"I most certainly did. This boy says that because my deck run out, he wins!" Lucien smirked. _Her grammar ran out right along with her deck._

"Well, I'm afraid so. It is in the rule book. So Lily, you are out of the running for first place I'm afraid, but you can still try and get a position as high as 5th place. What will it be." Lily was furious. She collected her cards and stomped out the door yelling.

"Why you yella bellied cowards! You can't even win games fair! I'm gonna take this to Industrial Illusions!" _Well there goes the neighborhood. Oh well, property values were too high anyways. _Mr. Dongard chuckled, and said to himself more than anyone else as he walked away,

"That would be possible if she owned over 30 percent of their stock or was phenomenally rich. She fits neither specification." He walked off to the counter to mark down that Lucien had won, and Lily had taken 8th place.

Lucien was satisfied that he had gotten to the semi finals. He was now one of the top four duelists in town that was for sure. He wandered off to see how Raoul and Aliya's duels were going.

If he had known how hard those duels were going to be, he would have run.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Editors' Note: Though we are not sure where any other character would have run to, nor how fast, we would like to assure all readers that Lucien would have run, leapt, hurdled, and dived to the location of Raoul and Aliya's respective duels, possibly under going asexual reproduction so that he could be in both places at the same time. That is all.

Author's Note: Some how I have acquired a set of alternate personalities that have the tendency of editing this story. How this has happened is beyond me. I am sorry that this update is late, as the computer I had it saved on was removed from my dwelling, and left in this odd predicament; I was forced to re-write it on a different computer. Seeing as I generally write my responses to my reviewers, those were lost so I have nothing to say. I can only remember one question and I will respond to that.

To Whom It May Concern: The italics and bold italics are Lucien's thoughts. Whether the bold italics are an alien presence, or simply Lucien arguing with himself, you may decide for yourself. However Lucien says that it is him, arguing with himself, so that is probably what you should believe as well. I personally think that unless you talk to yourself, there is something wrong with you. I agree with that statement. Me too.


	8. Invasion of the Kitties from Inner Deck

Tournament of Souls – Regional Quarter Finals

"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." – Murphy's Law. Editor's Note: This is called a law and not a theory for a reason. It has been proven.

As Lucien easily won his duel, Aliya and Raoul were having more difficulty with theirs. Raoul was facing a boy named Max. As Lucien started to look for his friends, Raoul was up to his eyeballs in trouble.

Raoul: 300

Max: 700

Raoul had a Skilled White Magician (1700/1900) in attack mode on his side of the field and a face down. Max had a Mecha-Dog Marron (1000/1000) in face upattack mode and a face down card. It was Max's turn.

"So Raoul, what will you do? You can't do anything to stop my Mecha-Dog without taking damage to your life points. If you destroy it, you loose 1000 life points. If you attack it, we both loose 1000 life points, and we will have to do this all over again. And I am confident that if we did, I would win. I will play Pot of Greed. I will now set both of the cards that I drew face down. Your turn." Raoul was sweating as he drew his next card, but then he smiled.

"It looks like I just drew just the card to end this."

"Really now? Something to combo with your face down card no doubt. Too bad. I activate Dust Tornado, and destroy your face down." Raoul smiled and moved his Trap Jammer to the graveyard.

"It doesn't matter, I didn't need that anyhow. You don't have any traps left that could hurt me. You've already used Mirror Force and Magic Cylinder. There are no more of your little machines to use with Covering Fire. You have nothing worth negating. I play Dark Core, and I will remove your Mecha-Dog Marron from play. I need to discard my Dark Magician, but it is well worth it. I just got rid of your last defense. Now, Skilled Light Magician, attack him directly."

"You forget I still had two face down cards. Admittedly, one of them was Limiter Removal. That would have finished you if you had decided to go for the tie. The other one is this. Dimension Wall!" Raoul was shocked.

"What? I've never heard of such a card."

"That would be because it is fairly new. Industrial Illusions only released it recently, and the pack still hasn't been widely circulated. What it does, is similar to Magic Cylinder. But it doesn't negate the attack. All it does is give you the damage that I would take."

Raoul: 0

Max: 700

Raoul picked up his cards and stood up without a sound. It was then that Lucien found him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The crowd of spectators made it harder to find anyone. In fact, it made it harder to move without either hurting someone or invading their personal space, and by the time Lucien had made it to Raoul's table he had done a lot of both as could be seen from the line of people nursing hurt toes. Lucien had just seen the end of the duel and as Raoul was standing up and getting ready to leave, Lucien called out to him from the other side of the table.

"Hey, Raoul!" Raoul looked up sullenly.

"I lost." Lucien looked at him quizzically.

"Well I already knew that, otherwise you would already have gone to the vending machines. It's ok though, you aren't at your best right now anyhow. It isn't that bad anyhow. Our theoretical odds for winning are the same as they were before this round; one out of four. I just have to beat two duelists and I win. Then you, I, and Aliya all go to the state championship." Raoul smiled.

"Ok man, just make sure you win. These guys are tough."

"Don't worry, I will. Unless one of them gets all of Exodia the Forbidden One in the starting hand, I'll be fine." Raoul laughed and Lucien turned away to hack his way through the crowd to find Aliya, but just as Lucien began to be surrounded in the crowd, Raoul called out to him again.

"Lucien?" Lucien turned back to him.

"Yeah?"

"What should I do now? I could try and advance my position, or should I just drop and take 8th place?" Lucien considered for a moment.

"Well, it would be 7th place at the very least, my opponent already dropped. Unless you feel particularly strongly about it, drop so you can root me and Aliya on."

"Ok, what table is Aliya at?" Lucien thought back, and felt somewhat foolish when he realized that he had absolutely no idea where he was heading. Before Lucien could respond though, Raoul had made his way over to the board (he was a few inches taller than Lucien, and more thickly built, so he had an easier time with the crowd) and shouted over the din of the crowd.

"I found it! She's at table five. I'll be right over as soon as I sign the drop sheet." Without waiting for a response, Raoul headed toward the counter where Mr. Kiwasaki had the drop sheet. Lucien turned back to destroying all the toes between him and table 5.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Aliya had sat down at her table, her opponent had yet to arrive. While she waited, she was constantly shifting positions nervously. If she lost this one, she had let Lucien down. Loosing wasn't an option. Just then, her opponent arrived. He had a Mohawk that was dyed purple, and his ears were pierced in 5 different places. At least he only had five earrings in each; Aliya suspected that they weren't all that was pierced. _Yeesh, talk about bad taste. I wouldn't be surprised if he ran the tackiest monsters that he could find. That or Archfiends. _

Here opponent looked her over, and snorted,

"Let's get this over with girly, so I can get picked for the team, and show all you little pricks what Mitch is made of." _I have to admit, I'm intimidated. But I can't let that stop me. What would Lucien say? _Then it occurred to her.

"And by that you mean 97 water, and three percent hot gas?" There was a flicker of uncertainty in her opponent's eyes, and a few of the spectators who hadn't been able to find room around the top eight tables and had gathered around them laughed.

"Oh I'll get you for that one girly. Let's get down to business. I'll even let you go first." Aliya's eyebrows went up at this.

"Well, if you insist." Aliya drew six cards. _Not the best hand in the world, but it will have to do._

Aliya: 8000

Mitchel: 8000

"First off, I play Spell Absorption." Her opponent frowned.

"What does that do?" Aliya glanced at him quizzically.

"The name says it all really, whenever a spell card is played, I gain 500 life points. Got it?" Mitch was silent so Aliya continued.

"I play the continuous spell card, Stumbling. You know what that does, right?" Mitch looked baffled but nodded his head. _He doesn't know the uses I can put this card to. And I don't think I'll tell him just yet._

"And don't forget, that's a spell card so I gain 500 life points."

Aliya: 8500

Mitchel: 8000

"I'll end off by setting a monster. You're up." Mitch drew and grinned broadly.

"And you're going down. I play Pot of Greed." He drew two cards.

Aliya: 9000

Mitchel: 8000

"It looks like you've gotten off easy this turn. I'll just summon Berserk Gorilla (2000/1000) and attack your face down monster with it."

"That would be in your fantasy world of course. Stumbling stops you in this one."

"What!" Aliya shook her head in mock sadness.

"You need to pay more attention. Stumbling switches all monsters positions when they are summoned. Oh, and take a closer look at your maniac's effect. When it goes to defense mode, it gets destroyed. So say bye-by to your only monster." Mitch grumbled, but complied.

"I'll set three cards face down. Make your move." Aliya drew and frowned slightly.

"I will set one card and pass my turn." Mitch drew.

"I will summon Gyaku Gire Panda (800/1600) (1300/1600), and it is switched to defense mode. That will be all." Aliya started her turn and thought for a moment. _His panda will get more attack the more monsters I have. It only has 1300 right now, so it isn't much of a threat. But if I summon another monster…_

"I will summon Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer (1800/200). It is switched to defense mode by Stumbling. Then I flip summon Banisher of the Light (100/2000), and the same happens to it. To finish I will just set a card face down." _That card will hold me for long enough to do some damage._

Mitch laughed out loud.

"Don't you know anything? Because of your monsters, my Gyaku Gire Panda now has 1800 attack! Oh, and you didn't know that it deals damage through defense, did you?" _Uh-oh, I'd forgotten that part. But it doesn't really matter now, just wait for the attack._

"Now to make things more painful, I'll activate my face down Ojama Trio. Now you have three more monsters on your field and all of those have no attack points (0/1000)."

"That doesn't matter, they're in defense mode!" Mitch shook his head and tapped the side of his nose knowingly.

"Oh but did you forget about your own card? Stumbling makes them switch to attack mode. Now I think I'll have my 3300 attack panda attack one." Aliya's hand flew to her face down card and Mitch's eyes widened. Aliya's hand stopped before it reached the card as a thought hit her. _He has my field blocked up! If I stop this attack, then I won't be able to summon any more monsters. But I'll be taking so much damage…_She withdrew her hand from over the card.

Aliya: 5400

Mitch: 8000

"Now that you've taken so much damage, I'll just pass my turn to you." Aliya drew and smiled.

"Before I start my turn, I just want to make sure that we're clear on one point."

"And what would that be?"

"That all cards that are sent to the graveyard are now removed from play due to my Banisher of the Light. That includes your Ojama Trio." Mitch shrugged; there was a reason that he wasn't in the top 8. He couldn't predict his opponents strategy if his life depended on it. Then again, with Aliya's strategy, few people could.

"Just making sure that you were aware of the fact. Now, I summon Fire Princess (1300/1500). It gets switched to defense mode by Stumbling. Next I play Soul Absorption. Whenever a card is removed from play, I gain 500 life points. Now, that is a continuous spell card so I get another 500 life points from Spell Absorption. In the mean time, Fire Princess makes you loose 500 life points because I gained life points."

Aliya: 5900

Mitch: 7500

Aliya surveyed the field. Her opponent could deliver a crushing blow at any time, but she had the means to stop it. Any spell that was played would put her above Mitch by 2000. Anything else going out of play would do the same on half the scale. Long enough of that and she could finish him.

"So? Are you going to finish your turn?" Mitch had been getting annoyed at the wait. Aliya almost ended her turn there but then she remembered something.

"No, first I switch both Ojama tokens into defense mode, and Kycoo to attack. Now it's your turn."

"It's about time too. I think I'll have my panda attack your Fire Princess." This time Aliya flipped up her face down card: Mirror Force.

"I'm afraid I can't let that happen. Aside from destroying your monster, two cards went out of play which means I gain life points and you loose them."

Aliya: 6900

Mitch: 6500

"Just because you're 400 points ahead doesn't mean you'll win." Mitch growled. "You don't stand a chance. I'll take care of you next turn and to ensure that I'm setting these two cards face down. Make your pathetic little move now." Aliya felt weak. She didn't stand a chance against this guy. Who knew what kind of strategy he had, but his one monster had more attack than any thing she had ever seen other than a Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth that she had seen the former Japanese champion summon once on tv; or Seto Kaiba's Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon that she had seen in one of his many televised duels. In the first round, she had faced a kid who used a Masked Beast, but that wasn't as strong as this, and it didn't have a piercing ability. Plus, with all the cards needed to summon it, he paid more life than it was worth and a Magic Cylinder finished him. Her hand shook as she drew her next card.

"I—I'll play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy the…the face down card on the left." Mitch frowned as his second Ojama Trio was destroyed and he lost more life.

Aliya: 8400

Mitch: 5000

"And then I'll play Upstart Goblin. The life you gain from it and what you loose from it balance out."

Aliya: 9400

Mitch: 5000

"Now I play the card I got with my goblin, Dian Keto Cure Master."

Aliya: 11400

Mitch: 3500

Aliya smiled grimly.

"I think that's 7900 points ahead. Your turn." Mitch drew.

"I play Mystical Space Typhoon on your Soul Absorption." Aliya groaned. There went a major part of her strategy.

Aliya: 11900

Mitch: 3000

"I think its time to do what I said I would at the very beginning of the duel. Prepare yourself for my great strategy!" Aliya knew that Lucien would have some witty comment, but she couldn't think of any and sank into her chair listening to the thoughts bouncing around in her head. _I can't loose this, I can't let Lucien down. I'm going to loose. I'm going to loose. Lucien will hate me. Lucien will hate me. Lucien will hate me._

"First I play Last Will and Timidity to make sure you don't try to destroy any of my traps."

Aliya: 12900

Mitch: 2000

"Then I summon the center piece of my deck. Rescue Cat (300/100)!" Aliya's eyes widened. She had never actually thought that this kind of deck could be pulled off. She tried to do the math.

"Now I activate Rescue Cat's effect. I tribute it to summon two level three or lower beasts from my deck. Come out my next two Gyaku Gire Pandas (3300/1600)!" _He can't kill me with those in one turn can he?_

"If you can do simple mathematics, you will know that I can't kill you with just those two monsters. But that's where the Last Will that I played comes in. Whenever one of my monsters is sent to the graveyard during this turn, I can special summon a monster with 1500 or less attack. Say hello to Rescue Cat number two! You should know the drill now. I tribute Rescue Cat for two Milius Radiants (300/250) and use Last Will to get a third. Milius Radiant's ability is to raise the attack of all earth monsters on the field by 500 and lower all Wind monsters by 400 making all of my monsters more powerful (4800/1600) (1800/250). Oh, and just to make matters worse for you, I'm activating the Final Attack Orders that I set last turn. Now all of your monsters are in attack mode." He looked to one of the spectators, a punk who had painted half his head black and the other half white and switched the colors for his hair (including eyebrows).

"So do you think I've shown this bitch I'm dueling what Mitch is made of?" The punk laughed but Aliya felt like crying. This duelist was far better than she would ever be. What was Lucien thinking when he said that I would stand a chance against the triumvirate of duel monsters; Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey? I can't even get through a little tournament in my home town. Aliya could feel the tears welling in her eyes when a voice came from behind her.

"To the greatest extent of my knowledge, you are neither dueling your mother nor your girlfriend, and there for your choice of noun was incorrect. Secondly all that you have shown your opponent here is that you are made up of 98.7 percent water and 1.3 percent hot gas though the percentage of gas is increasing." Mitch stared toward the person behind Aliya and even though she couldn't see him, only one person could say something like that. _Lucien. _But then another familiar voice spoke up.

"Really, Lucien, yo mama jokes? Man that's low." This time Aliya turned around to see Lucien shoot a crippling glance at Raoul. She giggled a bit and turned back to Mitch who was still stunned. He finally managed to regain control of his communication faculties.

"But I don't have a girl friend." The crowd tittered.

"Well that was obvious." Responded Lucien. "If you did you wouldn't look like that. Or is it the other way around?" Mitch didn't notice the contradiction and the crowd ignored it having found a new scapegoat. Mitch however recovered himself fairly quickly but this time Aliya was better prepared.

"I'm still going to win though. There is nothing you can do now. All of your monsters have been switched to attack mode. I'm going to more than halve your life points in one turn. Here is how this attack is going to happen. Gyaku-Gire Panda will attack Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, and then the other one will attack Fire Princess. The Milius Radiants will attack the Ojama Tokens and then Banisher of the Light. Do you have anything to stop me? If not, than record the massive amounts of damage that you just took!" Aliya shook her head and turned to write down the life points on a sheet of paper but found that she couldn't see it to write as her eyes were blurred with tears. Her hand was so unsteady that she wouldn't have been able to write anyhow but a hand reached out and took the paper and pencil. Aliya looked up at Lucien, but he wasn't looking at her, rather straight ahead towards Mich.

"You can beat this punk Aliya. You could beat him with the twitch of a finger. Just choose your timing carefully." He put the paper back down and tucked a pen back into his pocket.

Aliya: 500

Mitch: 2000

Aliya puzzled over his cryptic statement. 'You could beat him with the twitch of a finger.' What did Lucien see that she didn't? Before she went for down this train of thought, she turned back to Mich.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Is that all?" Mitch looked shocked at the audacity of this. She was supposed to be crumbling, and crying like she was a minute ago. But then that guy had come and said something and she was confident even though she only had 500 life points left!

"Yeah it's all. There's nothing you can do to stop me now. But as I end my turn, all of the monsters that were summoned with Rescue Cat are destroyed leaving me with a lone Milius Radiant (800/250). But I set a card face down. I dare you to attack me." That guy that was looking down at his opponent was making him nervous. Him and that African American friend of his. But then Mitch remembered one of the things that he had seen on pieces of paper tacked up on some of the walls. The code of conduct or some such nonsense that he like to rip down whenever he found it. But somewhere on that it said that if spectators were intimidating one of the duelists, they could be asked to leave. Of course in the big leagues this wasn't an option but in these places where all the little kiddies were dueling they put up rules like this to make everyone comfortable. Mitch decided to take advantage of it.

"Lucien- that was your name wasn't it? Stop watching the duel. As one of the duelists I have the right to say that someone can or cannot watch the duel. I think that you are illegally trying to help your friend so I want you and the guy next to you to leave. If you don't do as I say, I call a judge."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aliya was aghast, but Lucien merely nodded and walked away, but turned back to look at Aliya and wink. Aliya didn't know what it meant, but she was comforted.

"It's my turn Mitchel. I will set a monster and end my turn." _If I had anything strong enough I would love to call his bluff, but I can't. I just have to hope that he doesn't have anything else._ Mitch drew and he grinned; a big lopsided grin that wasn't in the least friendly.

"I think you're doomed. I play Nobleman of Crossout on your face down monster. It gets removed from play." Aliya resignedly moved her Stealth Bird to the removed from play pile.

Aliya: 1000

Mitch: 2000

"Now I summon my final Rescue Cat (800/100). I don't have any compatible monsters left in my deck to use, but I don't need to. All I need is the attack." Aliya's mind spun. 'You can win with the twitch of a finger.' What did it mean?

"Unless you have a House of Adhesive Tape or Eatagaboon face down to stop my summon, I win." All of a sudden it all clicked into place. She had the means of winning right in front of her this entire time; the card that she had set down on the first turn.

"No one runs either of those cards, but I have something better." She declared.

"I activate D.D. Dynamite. What with all of the spell cards you played to prepare for your grand rush, there is more than enough to kill you. I win." Mitch growled and flipped his deck upside down and started to add his graveyard and removed from play piles to it along with his field. Aliya noticed that one of his face down cards was Trap Jammer. _So that's why Lucien said to choose my time carefully; if I'd waited until the battle phase he would have stopped it. I can't wait to tell Lucien and Raoul I won! _But judging by the noise at the snack machine, they already knew.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rex: Of course Lily reminds you of someone you know! I did that on purpose... ok, so I didn't. But that doesn't mean that I can't read minds! And thank you for recommending my story to some of your reviewers.

John: I know that, but the deck fits my purposes.

Demon Fan: I couldn't tell whose Dark Paladin you were talking about, but good job winning.

Blue Eyes White Knight: Glad to have you reviewing, and I hope this was fast enough (but we both know that it wasn't)

Darksoulki: Man am I ever getting a lot of new reviewers! I'm glad you like it. I try to make the characters as realistic as possible.

Sdrive: Review next time!


	9. War of the Words

Tournament of Souls- Regional Semi-Finals

"I wondered why the Frisbee was getting larger. Then it hit me." - Anonymous

"History repeats itself, historians repeat each other." Philip Guedalla

Lucien had had Raoul looking over the crowd to tell him when Aliya's duel was over. He knew that she would win, it was just a matter of time before she deciphered his cryptic message. What if he had been wrong though? He was guessing, walking on ice so thin he could see the ice cold water rushing below him, just waiting to welcome him in its icy grasp. He couldn't afford to be wrong. He hadn't been lying on the bus when he had told Aliya how much he needed her on the team. It wouldn't be a team without her. But then Raoul had seen her activate D.D. Dynamite for the win and immediately headed to the snack machine to celebrate.

As Raoul fed money into the machine Lucien almost said 'Wait, stop! Can I use that for the bus ride home?' but didn't have the heart to say it. How far was it from here to his house anyway? It couldn't be that far. It took about 20 minutes on the bus, the average speed was about 25 miles per hour including stops, so that made it what, 12 miles? Not that bad. Not really. He needed the exercise anyhow. Hell, he'd need all the exercise he could get if he was going to have to go through what Laronn did. Aside from the part where he got killed and disappeared into thin air; nothing could prepare him for that. _Whatever it was that was acting as a duel monster was solid. If I get strong enough, or fast enough, I might be able to avoid being skewered. Maybe. _

Aliya came and he gave her a high five. He saw Mr. Dongard walking to the center of the room with the mike again. _Is it time for the next round already? That was fast. Shouldn't the battles be getting more heated at this stage? Wouldn't that mean that they take longer? Sure I went through Lily fast, but her strategy was win or lose and whatever way you choose, do it soon. One of us was going to lose and it was going to happen fast. Somehow the other semi-finalists must be hugely better than the rest of the competitors- not good news for me._

On his way to Mr. Dongard, Lucien passed the checkout counter where Mr. Kiwasaki was talking to Ray. For a moment he wondered why Ray was talking to Mr. Kiwasaki but passed it off; after all, there was no reason why he would be the only one who was friends with the store owner. Then Raoul and Aliya caught up with him as they got to the center of the room. This was a highly strategic position as it was close enough to Mr. Dongard so as to be able to hear him, but far enough away from the speakers that adorned the walls to keep their hearing intact. Mr. Dongard began to speak to the remaining contestants. Of course they weren't the only ones who heard. The room was chock full of spectators as well. Everyone wanted to see who would be the representative for their region. Lucien gulped. If he won he would have to make a fast exit to avoid the festivities. Otherwise he would never get home on time.

"We have now reached the semi-finals. I could go on congratulating the semi-finalists, but that can wait until you actually get somewhere. At table one, we have Todd vs. Lucien, and at table two Alicia vs. Max. Now moving onto the 'semi-finals' for getting 9th place. The winners of these two duels will get a place in the top eight. First at table three, we have Ethan vs. Gary. At table four we have Aliya vs. Ray. Lucien cursed himself for not having seen this coming. _How could I have been so stupid? Of course Ray was going to try for a higher position. Was I hoping that he wouldn't face Aliya until she was in the top ten? I barely beat him and his strategy goes in direct conflict with her strategy. Worse still, if Aliya looses I would probably choose Ray to replace her…She won't loose though, she can't. I just need to focus on my battle and leave her to win her duel._

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Raoul?"

"What is it man?"

"Keep an eye on Aliya for me. She'll need your encouragement more than I will during this next duel. If she loses it won't matter if I win or not." Raoul looked puzzled. _But if Lucien loses, than it won't matter if Aliya wins or that I made top ten. I'll just have to trust that Lucien knows what he's doing. I owe him that much. He seems to have felt Larron's death almost as much as I have. He'll never admit it, but he's fairly empathetic._

"Can do, just make sure to win this one, okay?"

"Naturally." _He's so calm it's almost creepy. _Raoul turned to follow Aliya as she headed to her table.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aliya's opponent was waiting for her. Even as she reminded herself that this match would be 'no holds barred' and that she or her opponent could use any psychological trick in the book, Ray smiled and held out a hand to shake. Aliya accepted, but was determined not to fall for any false kindness. Her confidence was bolstered as she heard Raoul come up behind her.

"So how've you done so far this tournament?" Aliya's eyebrows rose. She had prepared for just about anything. Unfortunately, friendly conversation wasn't included.

"Not well enough as I'm here dueling you instead of being in the top eight." Ray grimaced.

"Ohhhh, low blow. I don't think I've done to badly myself. I got beaten by a guy who went by the name of Lucien. I wouldn't be surprised if he won this tournament. After this, he has the ability to go far. He seems to have some kind of reason to win this tournament but as to what it is, I couldn't possibly guess."

"You were beaten by Lucien?" Ray chuckled.

"Yup, I thought I'd seen you talking to him. So you're the reason he wants to win this tournament, I should have guessed. Congratulations on getting him, I'd say he's quite a catch." Aliya blushed.

"No, its nothing like that." Ray arched his eyebrows.

"Really? Pity. Well I suppose it doesn't matter. He wants you on his team right?" Aliya nodded and Ray stood up.

"Well then, if it's all the same to you, I concede the duel." Aliya rocketed out of her seat.

"What!" Ray nodded slowly.

"You heard me, I concede. You get the match win, you're in the top ten." Raoul spoke up.

"Why are you doing this? If you win the duel, the winner may very well pick you to be on their team." Ray grinned.

"I hope I'm not being over confident, but if I won this duel, I can almost guarantee that I would get a spot on the team. The three people in the top four are friends of mine, and Lucien may very well have picked me if Aliya here wasn't an option." Raoul shook his head.

"That only furthers the question. Why?"

"Because as I said before, Lucien's one driven dude. Now that I know he's not just dueling to impress Aliya here," Aliya's face flushed. "I know he must have something even more important on his mind. Now I don't know what that could be." He looked significantly at Aliya and Raoul. "But it must be something very important to him. I don't want to interfere with Lucien's plans. If I learned anything from my duel with him, it was this: If you mess with Lucien, he'll mess with you harder. And that Lucien always has a plan bigger than you, him and anyone else you care to add to the pot." Raoul nodded.

"Thank you, whatever your reasons. Ray, Aliya, why don't you two go make it official that Ray surrendered while I go form Lucien's cheerleading squad?" Both Ray and Aliya nodded and Aliya headed toward the register while Ray hung back a bit.

"To tell you the truth Raoul, I don't think that I could have beaten her anyhow. One of my friends told me about her duel against the pseudo-Amazoness chick." Raoul cracked a grin. "Even with her deck stacked against her, Aliya would have won if it wasn't for the mind games. She can be fiercer than any of that chick's Amazons."

Without waiting for a response, Ray caught up with Aliya and started talking to her. As Raoul watched, he gave his signature on one of the little used "articles of surrender" at the register, and handed something to Aliya before jogging out the door. Without waiting for Aliya, Raoul headed toward Lucien. Judging by the crowd, this duel was heating up fast.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucien started dueling as soon as he got to the table. His opponent had been there waiting for him. Todd had hair like pitch, just as black and just as messy; sticky too by the look of it. His pale skin was shiny with oil. He wore a simple black shirt with long sleeves. And he looked like he was about 8 years old.

Lucien decided to start the duel off with friendly conversation.

"Hello, you're Todd?"

"Heads or Tails?" Todd pulled a coin out of his pocket.

"Umm… Tails I suppose." Todd flipped the coin. It was tails. _Well so much for friendly conversation._

"You may go first." Said Todd in a disturbingly condescending tone.

Todd: 8000

Lucien: 8000

"Or, I might go second. However, I do believe that I will go first." Lucien drew six cards. Todd drew five. Lucien looked over his hand. _Not half bad. Nothing to guaranty victory, but not bad none the less. _

"I set a monster and two additional cards. Your turn." Todd looked over his hand carefully and selected three cards from it.

"Pitiful as it is, I'll mimic your move." _Pitiful, eh? Well this guys about to get an unpleasant surprise. _Lucien picked up the top card of his deck and smiled.

"I'll flip my face down card, Cyber Jar(900/900). All monsters on the field are destroyed and-"

"I know the effect." Interrupted Todd as he placed his face down card, Old Vindictive Magician, in his graveyard. Lucien picked up Vampire Lord (2000/1500), Needle Worm(750/600), Messenger of Peace, Bistro Butcher(1800/1000), and Soul Reversal. He set Needle Worm and summoned Bistro Butcher in attack mode. Todd had drawn Apprentice Magician(400/800), Nobleman of Crossout, Lightning Vortex, Magician of Faith(200/300), and Chaos Command Magician(2400/1900). Both monsters were set face down. Lucien thought for a good long time before making his move and Todd got impatient.

"Why don't you just attack already?"

"That my dear Watson, is because I could hit your Apprentice Magician, and I don't know what you'll decide to fetch with that. But I do suppose I need to attack some time. I'll attack your face down on the left with Bistro Butcher." Todd flipped the card to reveal Magician of Faith.

"I can return nothing as there are no spells in my Graveyard. Continue."

"Well, I think I'll play Soul Reversal to return my Cyber Jar to the top of my deck. Then I'll set a monster. Your turn." Todd grinned broadly.

"I don't know how you got this far with your deck and ability, but you're not going any farther. First I'll summon Blast Magician. Then I play Nobleman of Crossout on your first face down - Needle Worm. You returned Cyber Jar to your deck in hopes of me going after it with Nobleman of Crossout, but I know that you have additional copies of Needle Worm in your deck, and that it would be more profitable for me to eliminate those rather than stopping Cyber Jar next turn." _This kid isn't half bad. But he's still just a kid and he's looking way too deep into things. Occasionally the best thing you can do is just take something at its surface worth. If we're going into psychoanalyze the subject, then I could just as easily have set an important monster in hopes that he would use Nobleman on Needle Worm. Luckily I didn't try to out guess him, I just set it up so that either way I would take losses, but at the same time, neither on hurts me overly much. _Lucien removed his Needle Worm from play and did the same with both of the other ones in his deck. When Todd saw that he was finished, he continued his turn.

"Just a reminder, Nobleman of Crossout gave Blast Magician a spell counter. Now I flip summon my face down Apprentice Magician. Its effect gives Blast Magician another counter. And now I think I'll attack your face down monster with Blast Magician.

"Ok, my face down is-" Once again, Todd stopped him.

"Don't tell me yet. I chain Magician's Circle to my attack." Lucien thought hard, tracing the name of the card back to articles about new releases that he had read on the Industrial Illusions web site. Then it hit him.

"You must have some good connections. That card hasn't hit the streets yet." Todd grinned.

"I guess you could say that. But you might remember, its already legal to play. I assume that you know that it allows me to special summon a spellcaster with 2000 or less attack. Now I use its effect to special summon Silent Magician Lv 4(1000/1000) from my deck." _Another pre-release. Where does this kid get his cards?_

"You may or may not know this cards effect but I'm going to tell you anyways. During each of your draw phases, it gets a spell counter. For each spell counter it gets, it gains 500 attack. When it has five spell counters, I can tribute it to special summon Silent Magician Lv 8. But I'm not worried about that. I play Level Up! On Silent Magician."

"Taking the easy way out I see."

"It's the only efficient method. I sacrifice Silent Magician Lv 4 for Silent Magician Lv 8(3500/1000). This card has a very powerful ability. It isn't affected by spell cards. Oh, and Level Up! gives Blast Magician a third spell counter. Now I sacrifice all three spell counters for Blast Magician's ability. You do know what that is, don't you?"

"Yes, of course. You can sacrifice any number of spell counters on it to destroy a monster with 700 attack times the number of spell counters sacrificed."

"Precisely. Now since Bistro Butcher has 1800 attack, and I have three spell counters, I sacrifice all three of them to destroy Bistro Butcher. Now, I think that you still have Cyber Jar in your hand and set this card face down as a bluff, it's probably nothing more than another Bistro Butcher or something similar. You still have Cyber Jar in your hand as you wouldn't want to risk it being lost forever to Nobleman of Crossout. Since I ended my battle phase to play Level Up! I'll end my turn." Lucien looked at his next card and frowned.

"I set a card and a monster face down. I can do nothing else." _I could do more, but it would be counter productive at this juncture. I need to keep my resources intact. _Todd grinned. _He thinks he's going to win this. Admittedly, it looks good for him but I can't afford to lose._

"You don't have much of a plan, do you? You're old face down obviously isn't a threat, so I think I'll have Blast Magician attack your first face down monster." Lucien grinned revealing his face down Cyber Jar. _He would have done better if he hadn't over analyzed the situation. Oh well, not my problem_

"Now all monsters on the field are destroyed, including the magician that you worked so hard to bring out." Now it was Todd's turn to crack a smile.

"Or it would be if I didn't activate Interdimensional Matter Transporter. I remove my Silent Magician from play for the turn so you can't destroy it."

"Bah, humbug." A voice came from behind Lucien.

"Christmas isn't for half a year yet Scrooge." Lucien turned to face the newcomer.

"Good to see you Raoul. I take it Aliya won?" Raoul chuckled.

"She didn't need to." Lucien raised an eyebrow.

"I'll tell you about it later." Todd broke in.

"That's all well and good, but shouldn't we be getting on with the duel?"

"Gladly. I chain Assault on GHQ to your Interdimensional Matter Transporter. I tribute my face down Morphing Jar #2 and send the top two cards of your deck to the graveyard."

After putting two cards from the top of his deck into the graveyard, Todd revealed the top five cards of his deck. Level Up, Silent Magician Lv 8(3500/1000), Injection Fairy Lily(400/1500), Pitch Black Power Stone, and Gemini Elf(1900/900). Injection Fairy Lily and Gemini Elf were both summoned in attack mode.

Lucien picked up his five and winced. He showed Todd: Morphing Jar(700/600), Servant of Catabolism(700/500), Card Destruction, Call of the Haunted, and another Servant of Catabolism(700/500). He summoned all of them in defense mode.

"Seeing as it's still my turn, I'll attack the center monster with Gemini Elf." Lucien put a Servant of Catabolism in the graveyard.

"After that I think I'll set a card and end. It's not worth the life points to kill anything else." Lucien drew and sighed.

"I'm beginning to get sick and tired of you and you're 'witty' commentary."

"Don't worry, you won't have to cope with my brilliance for much longer."

"That's the first intelligent thing you've said this entire duel."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aliya walked up to the table and saw Lucien and his opponent glaring at each other. After hearing some of the insults that were tossed across the table she was forcibly reminded of the time a few years ago when some older boy had been given the unofficial "Tormentor's award for best dissmanship" as it was referred to in some circles for insulting Lucien. The insults that had been so applauded had of course been said while Lucien's class was out on a field trip, but the whole school heard about it the next day.

Then again, even if they hadn't been told what had happened, they would have realized something was up when someone or another who had heard from someone, who had heard from his neighbor who had seen Lucien on the street once that Lucien had issued a challenge to the recipient of the award. Lucien never acknowledged that he sent out the challenge, but none the less, he showed up in the appointed place during break. His opponent jeered at him, but Lucien kept a level monotone responding to insults against various family members (e.i. Your mother's so fat her belly button his the height is a thousand feet above sea level.) with some of the most blatantly insulting logic anyone present had ever heard( as a reply to the previous example, Lucien would have said "If it was so, you would not know as you couldn't climb the said stomach even if you could muster the courage to walk into its shadow). In the end, Lucien's opponent was decreed the winner by his friends though Lucien himself smiled. Rather like the battle of Bunker Hill, the applauded victor had paid a higher price than the victory was worth to win.

No one had more trouble with Lucien's opponent for the rest of the year. He remained somewhat quiet and withdrawn and it was noticed that his grades dropped and as they dropped his parents arranged for him to meet with the school psychiatrist. He graduated un-noticed and no one has heard from him since. The school psychiatrist took Lucien aside the day before she quit for unknown reasons though it was speculated that she was in fact fired for incompetence. The principal refused to answer any questions on camera.

However he issued several statements to the school newspaper that were so ubiquitous in nature that they were never printed. _It wouldn't hurt if Lucien learned to deal with other people better. He may be the smartest kid in the class, but he has the least friends. _

As Aliya looked at the kid (he looked so young that she could think and indeed say he was a kid without any guilt or fear of reprimand) she thought _This kid has no idea what he's gotten himself into, _and turned to Raoul.

"Do you think Lucien can win this?"

"Can he? Yes. Will he? That's another matter entirely. Todd's got him in a corner with his spellcasters, he's got some cards that I'd love to have in there. I don't think that he uses Dark Magician like I do though. But that doesn't mean that Lucien's out of the woods yet though. No where close." Aliya cracked a grin.

"Even if you really like Todd's cards, you'd better hope Lucien wins. In fact, because of the cards. You see…" Aliya's voice descended into a whisper as she showed something to Raoul.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Editor's Note: This version has no been through the cycle once, it has been corrected thanks to crissinmon's review. An extremely stupid mistake on my part.


	10. A Card, A Card, My GPA for a Card!

Tournament of Souls- Chapter 10

Regional Semi-Finals.

"In every man there is a desire to be savage for a good cause. What separates the good men from the bad is the cause."

Editors' Note: At the end of the duel there is a questionable chaining of a card. The author knows this, and has decided upon a ruling that furthers the story whether or not Upper Deck agrees with it. After all, here Industrial Illusions makes the rules.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucien looked at the field. All he had was Morphing Jar and Servant of Catabolism face down and some traps. His hand had potential, but he would have to do to proceed with the utmost precision. He couldn't afford any mistakes, after all Todd had a 3500 attack monolith on his side of the field.

_Why couldn't I have included a Legendary Jujitsu Master? In this deck it would qualify as removal. **Because it's counter intuitive. Adding cards to the opponent's deck is just plain stupid. Especially when the entire point of the deck is to take away cards from your opponent. **_

"I flip summon Servant of Catabolism and activate my face down Robbin' Zombie. Do you know Servant of Catabolism's ability Todd?"

"It can attack my life points directly regardless of what monsters I have on my field." Todd looked bored out of his mind. As he said this he was cleaning under his nails with one of the cards in his hand. Strangely this seemed to irritate Aliya and Raoul.

"Correct. I attack your life points directly with Servant of Catabolism." Todd, still looking bored flipped over a card.

"I chain with Widespread Ruin. As your little creature is the only monster on your side of the field, it qualifies as the strongest despite its pitiful attack score." With a growl Lucien put Servant of Catabolism into the graveyard. At this point he was going to deck out before his opponent.

"I set a card and end." Todd didn't even look at his next card as he added it to his hand.

"I summon Masked Sorcerer. Attack your face down monster with Gemini Elf." Lucien smiled weakly and revealed Negate Attack.

"I think I have another turn to live."

"The end outcome is the same. Your turn." Lucien hesitated uncertainly and drew his card.

"I think I'll set this card down. Then I'll play Card Destruction." Todd smiled as he slipped his hand into the graveyard. As spoke as he drew his new hand.

"You really are a fool, aren't you? I know your strategy. You want me to deck out. But you fail to realize that at the same time, you're giving me more cards to ensure that you never do so. Allow me to show you just how stupid your deck is. The more cards you make me send to the graveyard from my deck, the more likely it is that I will draw any given card when I need it because there are fewer cards in my deck." Lucien glared.

"You can't draw it if I've sent it to the graveyard." Todd just shook his head grinning.

"First of all, I can draw a card to help me recover whatever you destroy. Premature Burial, Magician of Faith, Mask of Darkness. Second of all, it is more likely for me to draw a card than for you to discard it. Do I need to explain how that works?" Lucien shook his head, but Raoul decided it was worth the shame to learn about statistics before college.

"Well I don't know about the genius duelists here, but I don't get it. Why is it any more likely for you to draw the right card than it is for him to discard it?" Todd was only too glad to show off his smarts. You could almost tell that after every sentence he wanted to add "You poor uninformed individual." Lucien guessed that the only thing stopping him was that at some point an Honors English teacher had marked an essay down for doing just that.

"Let's say I have 17 cards left in my deck. Lucien has a Robbin' Zombie on the field and a Servant of Catabolism. He attacks my life points directly, and I decide to take the hit. He has a one out of seventeen chance of hitting the card I need. The next turn, thanks to his help, I have a one out of sixteen chance of drawing it. The odds are in my favor. Why did you even for a moment consider creating a deck that would help your opponent achieve his or her aims?"

Lucien was shaken. It had never occurred to him before that his strategy was, in fact, non functional. _How could I have been so stupid? I thought my idea was brilliant, taking a thrust at opponents in a way that they would never expect, one that they might even encourage. I never thought for a moment that I was helping them. Well, maybe for a moment, but not for any longer than I would think that they person directly behind me has an anvil labeled "ACME" ready to drop on my head. _

"Because he has faith." Everyone turned to face Raoul.

"Lucien doesn't need to have math on his side. He doesn't need logic or science. He has faith in his cards, his abilities, and I should hope as I count myself among them, his friends. As long as he believes that he can win, he will find a way, no matter what the odds are." Raoul blinked away the tears that had started to gather in his eyes.

"Can anyone tell me the mathematical odds of someone, anyone disappearing into thin air right in front of you? I don't need Todd's intellect to know that it's just about impossible. If it was less likely than that for Lucien to win, I'd still vote for Lucien, because not only does he have his faith in himself, but he has my faith and his friends' faith in him. I must say that with all that riding with him, I don't give a damn what the odds are, Lucien's going to win."

Todd stared, open mouthed and stuttering at Raoul; he couldn't believe that one of his opponents 'low life' friends had spoken up against him of all people. More to the point Todd couldn't believe that he had believed Raoul.

Lucien allowed himself a small smile. He had forgotten that he had more behind him than the tangible odds. Meanwhile Todd had collected himself and attempted to form a rebuttal.

"Faith has nothing to do with it. If you believe you are going to draw a Gaia the Fierce Knight, it doesn't change the position of the card within your deck. The statistics are unaffected."

"I'm sorry Lucien, but our friend Todd here has never been very good with anything that he hasn't seen in number theory." Mockingly Ray had come in and put a hand on Todd's shoulder holding a greasy bag from the nearest hamburger joint in the other.

His confidence fully restored now, Lucien drew the cards required by Card Destruction.

"First off I'll set a card face down. Then I'll activate my face down Call of the Haunted. I'll revive the Vampire Lord that I had to discard for Card Destruction. Now I'll use that to attack your Gemini Elf." For once Todd had nothing he could do so Lucien took first blood in the long and frustrating duel.

Todd: 7900

Lucien 8000

"Because of Vampire Lord's own ability I'll force you to send a trap from your deck to the graveyard. Robbin' Zombie in turn discards the top card of your deck." Todd chose another Widespread Ruin to send to the graveyard and winced as Robbin' Zombie sent a Magician's Circle to the graveyard from the top of his deck.

"Is that all you've got?"

"Do I need anything else? I think not. It's your turn." Todd drew and smiled cruelly.

"You may wish you had some greater defense by the end of this turn. I'll summon Gemini Elf. I'll also set a card face down. My Silent Magician Lv10 will attack your Vampire Lord." Lucien simply nodded as his vampire was destroyed.

Todd: 7900

Lucien: 6500

"Then my Gemini Elf will attack your face down card." Lucien smiled and flipped up Morphing Jar. They discarded their hands and drew five cards each.

"Now Injection Fairy Lily will attack directly."

Todd: 5900

Lucien: 3100

"Last of all, Masked Sorcerer will attack directly."

Todd: 5900

Lucien: 2200

"I draw by its effect and set a card. Enjoy your last turn." Lucien drew his next card and looked at his hand frantically. _This is it, I'm gonna lose. I don't have anything to stop him. He barely has any cards in his deck, but I can't eliminate those with what I have here and what he has on the field. If I had another few turns maybe. If I'm lucky I'll survive his next attack, it all depends on how he plays it. _Then Lucien conceived of a play. It was crazy, and if he had told it to Todd right then, Todd would have told him the odds were about 2.

"If I go down, I'm going down fighting. I play Bait Doll on your face down card. Bait Doll forces its activation and if the timing is off it is destroyed. Bait Doll returns to my deck." Todd turned over Mirror Wall.

"It looks like you've revealed my secret defense, not that it looks like I'll need it." Then Lucien conceived of a play. It was crazy, and if he had told it to Todd right then, Todd would have told him the odds for success were about 2.

"I summon Cliff the Trap Remover(1200/1000) and its attack is halved (600/1000). Now I'll have it attack Masked Sorcerer, destroying itself." Todd frowned as his opponent, who ought to be lying prostrate started killing himself against his monsters.

Todd: 5900

Lucien: 1900

"I don't know what your doing, but that made me draw a card." Lucien responded sarcastically.

"Really? I never noticed. Now I set a card face down and end my turn."

"First off I won't pay for Mirror Wall. You really want do die don't you? Well I think I'll just-, unless that's what you want me to do." Todd looked at Lucien's face down cards uneasily.

"It's too bad I haven't drawn my Heavy Storm yet. But I know just how to solve that. You don't know this, but you discarded my trump card, Double Spell with Card Destruction. And now I have just what I need to ensure my victory. I play The Shallow Grave. We each get to special summon a monster in face down defense mode from our graveyards." Lucien picked up Morphing Jar and set it. Todd took Magician of Faith.

"Now I'll play Book of Taiyou to flip my Magician of Faith up into attack mode. Its effect activates and I recover Double Spell. Just to ensure my survival I'll set a card face down. Now I play Double Spell, discarding my only copy of Graveyard in the 4th Dimension. I'll now play your Card Destruction. I just barely have enough cards left in my deck to do this and survive." Lucien looked up.

"Not after this you don't. I chain, Assault on GHQ. I tribute my Morphing Jar and you loose two cards from your deck. After Card Destruction resolves…" Lucien shrugged. "Why don't you see for yourself?" Todd, horrified counted off the last cards of his deck and looked around as if he might have miscounted. If he had one more card in his deck he would have survived.

Stricken, Todd looked around for a friendly face, someone to tell him it was ok. It seemed like all he was going to get was Ray noisily eating his hamburger on his way out the door; a rather unpleasant sound in the silence. Then Lucien stood up and proffered his hand.

"Good game." Todd took it and shook. Just those two words had calmed him down. After all, he was just a kid, used to looking to parents for approval and his supposed peers for worship. The loss would have been too much for him; if Lucien hadn't shaken his hand.

Aliya however hadn't quite forgiven Todd for his insolence.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Todd stood, still as a statue for a single moment until he jumped and cleared up his cards and handed them to Lucien in a sloppy stack, again the terrified child. Lucien had no idea what was going on until Aliya saw fit to inform him.

"He's an eliminator. So was Ray. They were given there decks, pre-made. They were allowed to duel with them in the tournament on the condition that they give their decks to anyone who defeats them. You had run off before Ray could give you his deck after your duel with him. So he surrendered to me and gave it to me so I could present it to you." Aliya took her deck box out of her pocket and removed Ray's deck, handing it to Lucien. Lucien accepted the deck from Aliya as well as the one that Todd handed to him first and the boy scampered off into the crowd. He looked at them for a moment and shook his head.

"I don't need these. Aliya you take Ray's deck. It will work well with your strategy. Raoul, take Todd's. You could use a few of his Spellcaster support cards." Aliya and Raoul took the decks amazed. Raoul was the first to give his surprise voice.

"But… why? You could use these cards perfectly well yourself." Lucien smiled.

"Because you're my team mates, and if I could have chosen any well themed decks to give you two, I would have chosen these."

"Thanks man."

"Just don't expect anything for your birthdays." On their way to the front of the shop, Aliya shook her head and looked worriedly at Lucien.

"Ray told us something else too. No matter who won the other semi-final match, you're going to be playing an eliminator. If you win, you'll not only be champion, but you'll win both of their decks. On the other hand, if they can beat one of their own, then they're bound to be tough, whoever wins. How do you plan on beating the eliminator in the final round?"

"By trying. I can't afford to lose. If I lose its all over. We'll never avenge Laronn. Your efforts would have been wasted. I need to win." And as he said this, a fire burnt in Lucien's eyes that they had never seen before, and when he swept away his bangs, his bracelet glinted in the electric light.

"They won't even know what hit them."


	11. A New Reality pt 1

Tournament of Souls Chapter 11

Regional-Finals

"You know, you might not be as stupid as you look. This is not hard. Let' think about this. I mean… _I'll _think about it, and you can join in when you know the words." – Terry Pratchett's Men at Arms from the Discworld Series

Editor's Note: WARNING! This chapter contains intentional spelling errors. All the "ye", "ja" and "ya" -ing is intentional. The two terms are both substitutes for "you". They are interchangeable, so if one is used, and the next moment the other is used instead, it is not an error. Any other errors remain erroneous and should immediately be reported to the proper authorities.

P.S. There may be other similar misspellings within, or referring to what Alicia says. This note continues to count for all other chapters containing Alicia, or other characters who happen to speak like, are disguised as, or are Alicia in disguise.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Lucien walked to the front of the shop, Aliya and Raoul tried to lighten the mood and make the regional seem morelike all the other tournaments they had competed in. After all, Lucien had lost in the final round, and even earlier plenty of times before. But this wasn't just another tournament. Not only was it their ticket to fame and potentially becoming the World Champ, but it was the only way to try and discover what had happened to Laronn. If they lost, then Laronn would go un-avenged.

But if he lost, would it really be that bad? Why should he, some kid from a place called West City on the East Coast of the U.S. of A. home of the brave and the lazy, be able to become world champion defeating the likes of Seto Kaiba, Joey Wheeler, and Yugi Moto, or even just be able to bring the one who… killed Laronn to justice?

_Because nobody else will. No one other than me, Raoul, and Aliya know what happened. But why me? I may have a high IQ, but I'm no hero; but there's no hero available, so I'll just have to do my best, and if I fail… I can't fail._

"How do you think we should celebrate when you win? We could all go over to my place or maybe Aliya's house…" Raoul broke into Lucien's reverie. Lucien responded with rather more harshness than was required.

"Even if I do win, don't you think you should be with your parents? Don't you have a funeral to plan?" Raoul's face froze and his eyes fell to the ground and the smile slipping off his face.

"Yeah, I suppose I better. Wonder how we're going to have a funeral without the body though…" Raoul stood there, lost in the potpourri of thought and memory. Aliya pulled Lucien to the side.

"What did you do that for? You should be trying to help him get over Laronn's demise rather than rubbing it in and making him feel bad about it! What the hell's wrong with you." Lucien shrunk visibly under her gaze, his shoulders hunched forward, and his face fell like that of an admonished child.

"Sorry, the stress must be getting to me." He straightened up, his face now expressionless. "It won't happen again." Lucien turned back and walked up to Raoul putting a hand on his shoulder.

"On second thought, it might be a good idea for you to stay out of the house before you have to walk out. If past actions are anything to go by, your parents are going to be blaming each other for the first half of the night, and drunk for the rest of it. I'll see if I can soften my mother up to letting you stay over at my house for the night." Raoul started to smile.

"So we party at Aliya's and then you and me go over to your house for the night?"

"We'll see about the party part." Knowing that this was as close to a yes as he was going to get, Raoul punched Lucien's shoulder for encouragement.

"Don't worry about the duel, mate, that's the easy part. Just make sure you know what you're going to say to your mum!" They both had a bit of a laugh over that. Then as they reached the front Lucien sobered up.

"Let's hear what Mr. Dongard has to say. He does look anxious to say something or another." This was a bit of an overstatement. The truth was, that Mr. Dongard didn't look anxious to do much of anything other than make all those who had been eliminated feel bad. When he realized that Todd along with several other top eight contestants was no longer there it almost looked like he was going to cry, or at least blink. None the less he started with his announcement.

"Once again, congratulations to our two finalists. Just don't get too excited, you haven't actually gotten anywhere important yet. The Industrial Illusions World Tournament Board of Directors, United States of America Division, Sub-Division M.D.12 has decided that the State Championships will be done using Kaiba Corp.'s Duel Monsters Imaging Platforms." This announcement was met with cheers from the crowd, with only the occasional person screaming "We want Duel Disks!"

"About a month ago Kaiba Corp. officials met with the mayor and the World Tournament Division of Industrial Illusions. Kaiba Corp. wanted to add some public entertainment systems to the city. They timed it so that the new projectors would be ready in time for this tournament so the board decided that the finals would be conducted using the new system as a sort of surprise grand opening. I tried to veto it but was overruled." Mr. Dongard leered down at the cheering spectators. Mr. Kiwasaki walked in from outside.

"Would the finalists and the… the remaining top ten duelists please come outside, the bus driver is starting to get impatient." Mr. Dongard followed Mr. Kiwasaki back to the door.

"I'm sorry if you were expecting a limosine, you won't get one of those until at least the National Championship. That is, if you ever get that far." He sneered and walked out the door to the bus.

When Lucien, Aliya, Raoul, and the remaining top ten duelists(Max, Alicia, Jonathan, Ethan, and of course, Amy were the only ones left) got to the bus, they heard Mr. Kiwasaki and Mr. Dongard (or dung beetle as some of the other duelists were calling him) arguing.

"It's supposed to be a **public **opening! It isn't a public opening of the new system if you don't let these spectators come with us for the final match!" The dung beetle finally relented, he picked up a megaphone and related the decision to the crowd.

"Fine, will the top ten finalists please get on the bus first, and then as much of the rabble as can fit may board." Aliya boarded first, with Raoul behind her and Lucien coming up next. He looked back to find that Amy was entering the bus right behind him. By now Raoul and Aliya had already sat down near the front, the bus had the usual 8 or so rows of seats on each side, and each seat was designed to hold two people. Ignoring this limitation, Lucien squeezed in between Aliya and Raoul. It was a tight fit, but it meant that there was definitively no room for Amy to force her presence on him.

Trying and failing to look pitiable, Amy conceded defeat and sat at the back of the bus where she promptly began to flirt with a fan-to-be. Just as the bus was about to leave, Lily came running up screaming bloody murder and got let onto the bus. Evidently she hadn't wanted to miss out on the chance to be on the team. She went to find a seat as close to Alicia as possible. The bus started to move and Aliya and Raoul did their utmost to sandwich Lucien between them in the two person seat. Somewhere some spectator had been able to get a seat on the bus and would be grateful to Lucien for his self effacing sacrifice- that is, if he or she knew about it; which, needless to say they didn't.

Finally, after much squishing, the bus arrived in the park that dominated the center of the city, near the river but upstream from the bridge. The projectors had been the center of a large restoration project on a hill that was generally used for sledding during the winter. Of course, excessive sledding wore down the grass, caused erosion, and other problems that were noticed only by environmentalists, government officials, and parents and through advertising campaigns had sold the idea of a restoration project to the masses.

I don't think a duel station was quite what either the officials or the masses had in mind. That is not of course defining the masses as people who didn't care about obscure environmental facts and statistics that don't actively prevent them from sledding down the hill anytime it snows. They would have been overjoyed to know that they were building a duel station. Especially seeing as with the cover on it, it would make an excellentjump for sleds.

Right now though, very few people were thinking of sledding. When they arrived at the street that separated the urban jungle from the urban park, everyone filed off the bus. As soon as it was away from the constraints of the bus, the line became a mob and someone on the bus must have had a cell phone because following the bus were several vans full of duel enthusiasts.

Almost as soon as Lucien had gotten off the bus, a hand started pulling him to the duel station by the collar. The hand of course belonged to Mr. Dongard. Alicia hadrefused the indignity of being dragged along. Lucien didn't have a choice.

The duel field was more or less like many that Lucien had seen on tv. Instead of the traditional red and blue booths for the duelists, both were a silver color as was the majority of the siding for the field. However, on the either side of each booth was a glass bubble with a prism like surface. The majority of the people there were puzzled as to the purpose of the bubble, but were to excited to ask any questions. Mr. Dongard positioned Lucien on one side of the arena and Alicia walked to the other. Neither boarded the lift to the field level and Mr. Dongard walked around to the small booth on the side reserved for the judge and got on the lift. He faced the audience and brought the megaphone to his mouth.

"Ok people, you are about to witness three things: first of all, the final round of The West City Area Regional Tournament. This is also the opening ceremony for this duel station. If it is a success, several more will be built." The crowd cheered.

"Finally this is a test of a new variant of the duel station. You may notice the gems on the sides. These will not only assist with the holographs and other special effects, but will also be used to represent the duelist. For instance, in a tournament it would be arranged so that each duelist would have a different color displayed on the crystal. We're still working out some of the details on how that system will work, but for now the crystals will represent the players' decks." Somewhere in the crowd a voice piped up.

"Where's the mayor? Shouldn't he cut the ribbon in the opening ceremony?" Mr. Dongard glared down at the offending speaker.

"Well, we were going to have him cut a nice ribbon with a gold fringe, but then he remembered that he had a meeting. Too bad. But if you insist I'll cut something." He fished around in his pocket and took out a piece of thread and a nail trimmer. He handed one end of the piece of thread to an audience member and cut it.

"There, is everybody happy now? Good. Now will the duelists please board enter the duel station and prepare to duel." Alicia opened the gate to the lift and stepped on. There must have been some kind of sensor because as soon as both feet were on it, it began to rise. Lucien couldn't figure out how to open his, so he just vaulted over the gate. His platform rose to meet Alicia's at field level. However, neither combatant seemed to know what to do next.

Mr. Dongard had turned to face the field and was tapping his foot in annoyance.

"It would appear that neither of our finalists has ever watched a duel on tv. You need to put your deck down on the appointed place to start the duel." Alicia glared at Mr. Dongard and put her deck down. Lucien followed suit.

On either side of Alicia's platform the domes turned red; Lucien's turned black. The field powered up and hologram projectors rose up out of the corners of the field and from the fronts of each elevated booth. A spinner divided into red and black portions appeared in the middle of the field. A disembodied white glove gave it a spin. After it had spun around a few times it landed on red.

"Alicia will go first." Mr. Dongard announced.

Alicia drew her first six cards grinning.

A holographic billboard, rather like the one above the court at basketball games had appeared above the field. On it, life points were displayed along with camera footage of either player, from the front of course. Lucien found the camera at the front of his booth and glared at it eliciting giggles from the audience. Alicia adjusted her clothes to suit the angle. An additional screen was also present, presumably for close ups and different camera angles of the duel.

Alicia: 8000

Lucien: 8000

"I'll set a monster face down. Next I'll put down two cards on my back field. It's your move."

As she set each card, an enlarged holographic representation appeared on the field. The holograms even extended to the shadows beneath each card which seemed unnecessarily threatening. It made Lucien nervous. It almost looked like something under the card had moved.

And according to the whispers from the hill, it wasn't entirely his imaginiation either.

Alicia was getting impatient. She wanted to win this already. She thought she was U.S. Championship material, the regional and the state champs should be a breeze. She'd gotten herself the cards she needed to win, and now she had every intention of doing it. The prizes from those tournaments alone would be worth it. And the prestige would warrant invitations to additional tournaments with yet more prizes. But she couldn't win if the numbskull standing opposite her wouldn't make his move.

"How, lead for brains, could ja, I don't know, speed it up a bit?" Then, for emphasis, she added, "I don't have all day ya know."

Lucien looked up slowly. He had been absorbed examining the inside of the booth he was occupying (His on camera image had looked quite bizarre as well. Among other things it looked un-professional and amateurish. Not to mention what the convex lens of the camera had done when he had been examining it. Aliya made a note to talk to him about it afterward.) He'd never seen what the insides of these looked like before. There had probably been a special about duel stations on the Discovery Channel at some point, but he hadn't watched it. After all, if something hasn't been a special on the Discovery Channel, then it must be 1. impossible to get a camera into 2. impossible to get diagrams and/or pictures of 3. politically incorrect 4. controversial and 5. so insignificant that even the sick, elderly, and chronically bored people that keep such shows on the air would rather watch test patterns than learn about it.

Lucien spoke slowly. Unlike Alicia, he had a good reason to be in some kind of rush. What with walking home and his mother expecting him to be home at a certain time (she had never bothered to tell him what this time was, or even that there was such a time, but if he arrived later than what she deemed correct, there would be trouble), it would be in his favor for the duel to be short as that way he could start home sooner, and have less chance of getting home only to meet reprimands.

However, winning was more important that receiving a pleasant welcome upon his arrival home. In fact, it would be the first time in his life that Lucien had ever felt that he really needed to win something. There had always been a desire; a lust for victory however slight, yes, to not have that would to be not human. But never before had Lucien really needed to win. If he lost now, he wouldn't be able to show his face to Aliya or Raoul again.

Well that's a lie. He would be able to. He just wouldn't be worthy of it. If he lost this duel, he would no longer have that spark of pride that made Lucien…. well; Lucien. He would win this duel. So he wouldn't rush. He'd take it as it came, roll with the punches, and when the opportunity came, let fly a blow of its own. And by Joan, it had better be a knockout.

"You think you can win, don't you?" Alicia was shocked. That was exactly what she's been thinking. But you already knew that. After all, I told you.

"You can't though. Sorry, that's not right. It's just that you're not going to win this duel here and now. It is neither the right time nor place. Maybe on a different day you would have stood a chance, but not now. I'm sure that you'd like to hear an explanation. But I'm afraid that will have to wait as I have neither the time nor the ability to tell you the reasons behind this, and there are many."

"I tell you this in full knowledge that it will make no difference. You will still duel me just as hard as you would have in any case, perhaps even harder. I tell you only because you have a right to know, and that there might have been the smallest fraction of a percentile chance that you would surrender. But that time has past."

Lucien drew his card without flourish. His face was ice; the ultimate poker face; for ice is not frozen into an expression that may betray some aspect of humanity but instead is influenced by everything surrounding it and even reflects the face of the one who seeks to penetrate its mysteries.

"I'll summon the Bistro Butcher (1800/1000) in attack mode." The purple demon shimmered into existence on the field. It licked blood of its hook and grinned savagely at the audience with pointed teeth. The overhead gave them a close up. The spectators shivered collectively. Lucien was really glad it was on his side of the field. Even Alicia was unnerved. The monster's stats had appeared both on the overhead and on a screen in Alicia's booth. Lucien had the benefit of the actual card and for once it had been decided that redundancy wasn't required.

"Now I'll have my Butcher prepare your monster for the frying pan." Bistro Butcher leapt forward and a large turtle with a space ship for a shell appeared. The fiend used its hook to serrate a leg and slit the turtle's throat with a knife. It strung the leg up to drain and pegged it to the outside of Alicia's booth. It walked back to Lucien's side of the field and made motions toward Alicia that mimed eating. Alicia looked a shade of green comparable to that of her UFO Turtle (1400/1200).

Before either the body or the leg had the time to disappear, Alicia flipped up a card. The holographic representation raised and was revealed to be Backfire.

"I just activated Backfire. That means that when one of my Fire monsters is destroyed and sent from the field to the graveyard, you lose 500 life points."

The crowd of spectators looked for a holographic representation of the damage. They had almost given up hope when a boy in the front row threw up into a sack. The leg that had been pinned to the wall was twitching violently and swinging back and forth, banging against the wall it was pinned to. The nail that had been used to pin it up was visibly coming loose until all of a sudden the leg gave the wall a vicious kick and the nail came out of the wall and flew straight and true as an arrow at Lucien.

Without the time to consider the virtues of taking the hit like a man, Lucien crouched just as the nail was about to give him a third eye. However, instead of flying onward, the nail stopped dead above his head and the tip flipped downward. From this distance he could tell that it was quite rusty. Lucien glared coldly at his monster who shrugged innocently as only one who has never heard of tetanus can (This only applies to matters concerning rusty objects. I'm quite sure that people, and monsters can shrug innocently even if they have heard of tetanus. I just haven't seen them yet).

Meanwhile the nail dropped down and hit Lucien's head, and upon contact, disappeared. Lucien hardly felt it; but he still felt it.

Alicia: 8000

Lucien: 7500

"Now as you probably know, my UFO Turtle has an effect. When it is destroyed as a result of battle, I am allowed to special summon any Fire monster in my deck that has1500 or less attack to the field in attack mode. I choose to bring out Solar Flare Dragon (1500/1000)."

This new monster wound its way out of a previously invisible hatch on top of the UFO, and at the same time the fire covered the new monster consumed the vanquished one. Lucien imagined he could feel the heat radiating off of the dragon. However, the haze of heat above the monster, and the sweat that was beginning to gather on his face encouraged a different reasoning. _This simulation is almost too accurate. Not only does it portray the monster in perfect detail. _And this it did as anyone watching could see individual bits of molten rock along the belly of the monster moving, melding together, and breaking apart as the serpent writhed.

_It even releases heat. I just hope that Kaiba Corp had the sense not to use completely realistic amounts of heat. Otherwise this platform would meltdown and both combatants would probably suffer from heat stroke if they weren't instantly incinerated…Well, seeing as I'm not visibly charring along the edges, it would do to assume that they made sure that only a safe amount of heat, or presumably cold in the case of a icy monster, is released. _

"My new monster has two abilities. First off, if I have another Pyro-type monster on my side of the field you can't attack Solar Flare Dragon. Also at each of my end phases, you lose 500 life points." Lucien looked over the cards in his hand. Nope, nothing he could use immediately.

"I play Gravekeeper's Servant. Now whenever you declare an attack you must send a card from the top of your deck to the graveyard. I'll set a card face down and end my turn." Alicia whipped the top card off her deck grinning at the audience making sure that her auburn hair didn't cover too much of her face. This was going to be her home team after all, her primary fan base.

"For my first move I'll summon my second Solar Flare Dragon." Now it is unclear whether the first Solar Flare Dragon split into two or whether the second one emerged from behind the other. Either way the effect was quite impressive and at the end of it, the dragons had their tails entwined and there was a low fire raging behind them.

"Now I'll play the field spell card Molten Destruction." The bottom of the field itself began to change. No longer divided by thin white lines, if one were to look down on it, it would appear that they were hovering above an active volcano. The only truly three dimensional component of the image, as realistic as the rest of it appeared, was the summit which extended a few feet above the level of the field, occasionally belching smoke or a bit of rock.

"This field spell increases the attack of every fire attributed monster on the field by 500 and decreases their defense by 400. That means that both of my Solar Flare Dragon's (2000/600) now have 2000 attack. I'll now have my first dragon attack your Bistro Butcher."

Alicia put the top card from her deck in the graveyard in accordance with Gravekeeper's Servant and then one of the fiery serpents leapt forwards, and paused in front of Bistro Butcher as if to think. Then it swallowed him whole and belched a bit of fire at Lucien. It ruffled his hair a bit, nothing more.

Alicia: 8000

Lucien: 7300

"Now my other monster will attack your life points directly." Lucien cringed. He was not looking forward to his first direct attack.

Again Alicia slipped the top card of her deck into the graveyard. The second Solar Flare Dragon let lunged forward and let loose a blast of fire. Lucien could feel the heat of the illusory flames and gripped the side off the box to prevent himself from being knocked over. Then the attack ended and the only lasting damage was to his life points.

Alicia: 8000

Lucien: 5300

"That will be all for this turn. Oh, but don't forget that you take 500 damage for each Solar Flare Dragon." The dragons came together for double streams of fire. _Note to self, next time you duel on one of these things bring a comb. **But the ladies like the windswept look my hair gets. **Oh, come on… _

Alicia: 8000

Lucien: 4300

Lucien drew his card.

"I'll summon Servant of Catabolism (700/500)." The strange creature appeared and began hopping about.

"I'll activate my face down Robbin' Zombie and use my monster's ability to attack directly." Lucien's monster looked thoughtful almost as if it was calculating something. Then it looked up and sent a forceful stream of water up into the air. The monster then, as Alicia and her monsters watched the water, ran around the Solar Flare Dragon's with surprising speed and jumped up onto Alicia's box. As soon as she looked around it sprayed her with water and returned to its place on Lucien's side of the field.

Alicia: 7300

Lucien: 4300

"And because I did battle damage to you, you loose the top card of your deck." The zombie pictured on Robbin' Zombie stepped out of the card and beckoned. Then a hole opened up under Alicia's deck. It came up again a moment later and a card was spat out into her graveyard. Lucien noted on the overhead that it was her third Solar Flare Dragon.

"To end my turn I set a card. It's your move. I've already told you the future. What are you going to do to change destiny?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Merry Christmas!

(or happy day before Hanukkah)


	12. A New Reality pt 2

Tournament of Souls Chapter 12

Regional Final Round

"A year went past. The days followed one another patiently. Right back at the beginning of the multiverse they had tried all passing at the same time, and it hadn't worked." - Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters from the Discworld Series

Editor's Note: We apologize for having two quotes in a row from the same person. We tried to stop him, we really did. Also we would like to thank Peace Writer for his review. Thank you for your help. On one point though, the spacing in words. We know that it appears to be a careless mistake, but believe that it may be something with the way the document is loaded because neither spell check, nor the author found these mistakes yet they were there on FFN. This is not the only author having problems with this though we will try to correct it. Thank you for your review.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So far the duel wasn't looking very good for Lucien. He was lagging in life points. Actually lagging is an understatement. When someone is behind by 3000 life points it's generally fair to say that they're losing, and badly at that.

However Lucien's prediction hung thick in the air. He had said that he would win, and gone on at some length about it. As of yet though, very little had been done to prove it. And it was his opponent's turn.

Alicia smiled at her audience as she drew. At this point it was predominately her audience as it's no fun to watch a loony who can keep a straight face. And at that point that's what they thought Lucien was. A loony. As far as they could tell, he hardly knew how to duel, and was crazy enough to think that he was going to win. And he wasn't going to be obliging by ranting, raving and drooling a bit.

"For my next move, I will summon The Thing in the Crater (1000/1200)-(1500/800)." A crater appeared on the field. And to the disappointment of the crowd that was about it. But it smoked a bit though it was a lackluster substitute for another holographic monster roaring to the field.

"Next I'll have it attack your… oh yes, Servant of Catabolism. I'm sorry; I had trouble remembering the name. You see, I've never seen one in a serious competition before." Alicia surreptitiously slipped the top card of her deck into the graveyard. A shadow crept to the rim of the crater. It hurled bits of lava at the cowering monster on Lucien's field.

Resolutely, Lucien flipped up a card.

Just before the lava reached his monster a vortex appeared swallowing it. Alicia cursed under her breath. _Negate Attack saved me this time, but what about next turn?_

"I end my turn." The twin dragons spewed flames on Lucien. He decided not to duck. He might as well keep his pride as if previous experience was any guide it would just follow him down.

Alicia: 7300

Lucien 3300

Lucien looked down at his cards and grinned. He might just have something here.

"I tribute my Servant of Catabolism for Vampire Lord (2000/1500)." Slowly, Servant of Catabolism lowered into the mouth of the volcano from the field card. Then a coffin appeared on Lucien's side of the field. The lid was pushed aside and Vampire Lord emerged with a wave of bats. Alicia's face bore a look of absolute revulsion. Lucien smirked.

"What is it Alicia? Don't like the undead? Well that's too bad, because the undead just love you. Vampire Lord atta- stand down." Lucien said with a glance at Alicia's face down card and his own complete lack of additional monsters. Now it was Alicia's turn to smirk.

"So, you can't gather the courage to attack? Coward. Anyone who deserves to the regional champion would have attacked."

"If that's so then those that are worthy are fools and would have lost on your next turn, or the turn after. Firstly your face down is likely a trap to destroy Vampire Lord. If so, your next attack would prove fatal. Second the only monster that can be successfully attacked is The Thing in the Crater. If I destroy that then you could get a stronger monster from your hand. Finally-" Alicia brushed her hand through the air as if trying to shoo a fly, however ineffectively as anyone who has had to shoo a fly themselves knows that the only ways to get rid of them is to kill them, get them stuck on fly paper (if you can find some that is actually sticky enough), or to get them locked either outside, or inside a container or room, depending on the situation.

"We get the idea. You could probably go on explaining this or anything else for hours. I wouldn't be surprised if you could explain the actions of our current and former presidents. Actually, I would but that's beyond the point. Just get on with your turn already."

"Very well. I set a card face down and end my turn." Alicia grimaced. It was clear that she didn't like the number of traps that Lucien seemed capable of setting. Again Alicia drew. When she saw the card she actually chuckled a bit.

_Wonder why she's so happy. All I know it can't be good news for me. I just hope she doesn't realize exactly how close to death I am._

"I hate to say this Lucien, but you're going to lose this. You haven't even put up that much of a fight, so I can't say that I'll be picking you for the team. I tribute my The Thing in the Crater for Spell Canceller (1800/1600)." The crater in which the monster was hidden simply disappeared, and in its place appeared Spell Canceller, a small bug like machine with what looks kind of like a metal bud on its head.

Almost as soon as it appeared however, the bud began to open and six metal petals appeared. Wisps of energy floated around it. One of the wisps found its way into the center of the flower and turned into a bead of light which then was launched into the center of the volcano which simply disappeared along with the rest of the landscape. Another hit Gravekeeper's Servant making the image of the card grey.

The crowd reacted. Whispers of "Why would she do that? It's not even a Fire attribute." and "But what about her field card? Now Vampire Lord is the strongest monster on the field." spread around the stands like wildfire. And indeed, all monsters on the field had returned to their original strengths. Lucien grimaced.

_So I was right then. Her face down card must be a trap for her to do summon that; either that or its one heck of a bluff. But this does mean that I'm safe… for now. If I can build up a decent defense before attacking then I should be able to… Curse it! I'd forgotten I still can't attack her dragons. And as soon as I destroy Spell Canceller they'll be get their boost back. Normally I'd play a waiting game, but that's against me because that's her plan; to burn me to death with those dragons._

"To end my turn, I set a card face down. Care to make a move pretty boy?" The dragons again burned Lucien. He closed his eyes briefly against the flames. However, he refused to raise his arms to guard his face. **_It's just an illusion. _**

****Alicia: 7300

Lucien: 2300

Lucien drew and chose to keep his peace rather than beginning a war of words. As he looked at the cards in his hand a plan that had been sitting in the recesses of his mind began to flesh itself out. And from what he could see so far, it would be a winner. It had better be.

"I call your bluff." Alicia was startled out of some dream of glory.

"Bluff?" Lucien nodded in what he hoped was a sufficiently convincing fashion.

"Your face down card; I was a fool not to see it before. It can't harm me. It's probably nothing more threatening than another Backfire. Vampire Lord, attack her Spell Canceller!" Vampire Lord swept its cape aside for the release of hundreds of bats, it flew after them. Alicia flipped her face down trap.

"You only got one thing right, and that is that you're a fool, more so now than before. You're Lord of the Creeps is destroyed by the silver blades Sakuretsu Armor." As she said this, silver bladed walls sprung up around Spell Canceller, and Vampire Lord and its bats broke against it like the tide. As the crucial moment had passed, Lucien allowed his façade to slip.

"Pity then, oh well, no loss. It will return next turn. I'll set a monster and end my turn." Alicia drew her card grinning. It was worth all those years with braces if she was going to be smiling this much. Make sure to show the camera those pearly whites.

"You really are a fool, aren't you? You're lone monster can't possibly defend against my hordes. Spell Canceller, attack his monster." The machine gathered energy and fired a laser at the face down monster. A mechanized storage device appeared.

"Well Alicia, it seems that you just fell into a trap of my devising. Now all monsters on the field are destroyed and we each pick up-" Alicia was already drawing cards and Lucien desisted in his explanation. Inside the Cyber Jar, images of the big band were presented. Soon the images expanded to the field with a rush of light and colliding atoms. When the light show was over, the only things on the field were spells and traps. The volcano had returned and Gravekeeper's Servant had regained its coloration; that and the two chunks of flaming rock flying at Lucien.

They met their mark.

Alicia: 7300

Lucien: 1300

As each player drew, holographic representations of their cards appeared. Alicia had Backfire, Raging Flame Sprite, Magic Cylinder, UFO Turtle, and Premature Burial. She summoned both of her monsters in attack mode.

Lucien drew Needle Worm, Morphing Jar, Assault on GHQ, Gravity Bind, and Needle Worm. All of his monsters went face down. Alicia was starting to get annoyed by his tactics.

"Alright, you've survived long enough. First of all, I'll attack your life points directly with Raging Flame Sprite (600/0)." She slipped a card into the graveyard. The sprite flew over Lucien's cards and bonked him over the head with a flaming wand.

Alicia: 7300

Lucien 700

"As you know, when my sprite attacks directly, it gains 1000 attack points (1600/0). Next off my UFO Turtle (1900/800) attacks your middle face down." Again Alicia lost the top card of her deck. UFO Turtle belched fire at the card which flipped up to reveal Morphing Jar. Both players discarded and refreshed their hands.

"To end my turn I play Wave Motion Cannon. See if you can survive another turn." An elaborate cannon appeared. Lucien drew and sighed.

"I'm afraid that this duel is just about over for you. During my standby phase Vampire Lord returns to the field. It's the beginning of the end for you. First I flip summon both of my Needle Worms (750/600). You lose 10 cards from the top of your deck." Again Alicia's deck disappeared into the machinery of the arena only to appear with scarcely any cards left in it and a much thicker graveyard. Vampire Lord had again emerged from his coffin.

"Now I play Card Destruction, we both discard our hands and draw the same number of cards." Like lightning, Alicia activated her trap.

"I've been saving this card because I knew that you would try something like that. Solemn Judgment, it negates any spell, trap, or monster summon as long as I care to pay half my life points." Though Lucien raised his eyebrows, he was inwardly cursing his bad luck and lack of judgment. The old man and his escort appeared briefly in a burst of heavenly light and disappeared.

Alicia: 3650

Lucien: 700

Lucien picked another card out of his hand.

"You may have stopped on card, but you're out of ways to negate my spells. I play Heavy Storm." A great wind swept across the field. A man, a few cows and pieces of farm equipment, all of the spells and traps on the field, and a farm house were all sent off to Oz. When the storm had passed, the volcano was, once again, gone, and Alicia's monsters were at their original strengths (1400/1200) (1100/200).

Lucien sighed at his mistake and the loss of his spell and trap cards.

"Vampire Lord, attack Raging Flame Sprite." Vampire Lord lunged at the sprite, bats and all. When the cloud of bats faded, there was nothing left; unless you count whatever Vampire Lord was licking off his lips.

Alicia: 2750

Lucien: 700

"Also I can choose a kind of card, and you have to discard one from your deck. I choose Monster." Alicia took out her last Ultimate Baseball Kid.

"Now, just to be safe I play Messenger of Peace and set a monster as well as an additional card. I end my turn." Alicia drew and frowned.

"Now to do some serious damage, I'll attack one of your Needle Worm's with UFO Turtle."

Alicia: 2750

Lucien: 50

"Now, to end my turn I tribute UFO Turtle for Jinzo (2400/1500)." The mechanized monster rose out of a vortex onto the field. It cracked it knuckles mechanically.

"Now you'll see you're prediction proven wrong. I only have one card left in my deck. But that doesn't matter because you can't afford to pay for Messenger of Peace. If you have any trap cards, Jinzo will stop them. He and my other monsters will attack and destroy you. At this point all it will take is a Raging Flame Sprite. You've lost." Lucien just shook his head as Messenger of Peace faded because he was unable to pay the cost.

"I told you I was going to win this duel, and I meant it. Now watch how I'm going to do it. First I tribute my face down monster for Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch (2400/1000)." A man in heavy maroon armor took the field.

"Now, Thestalos has an effect. When it is successfully tribute summoned, a random card is sent from your hand to your graveyard, and you take damage equal to 100 times the number of stars." Thestalos send a fire bolt at Alicia's hand. She discarded the indicated card- Smashing Ground."

"It's a spell card, so you don't take any damage. Now I attack your Jinzo with Thestalos. Fire Storm." Thestalos pointed a finger at Jinzo and let loose a tornado of flames. Weathering this, Jinzo sent off a ball of physic energy before it was destroyed. The energy destroyed Thestalos.

"Next Vampire Lord attacks you directly." The bats swept over Alicia. She screamed as she saw her dreams begin to fall apart.

Alicia: 750

Lucien: 50

"Now Needle Worm, finish this!" It fired a single needle that pierced only Alicia's finger which was guarding her face.

Alicia: 0

Lucien: 50

Both contestant and champion picked up their decks and were lowered to the ground. This time round Lucien found the latch and walked out of the dueling box. He walked out around in front of the stands. Mr. Dongard came around and said.

"The regional champion for West City and the surrounding sub-urban area is Lucien."

Cameras flashed and the crowd cheered their champion, superior, and soon to be savior, Lucien.


	13. Rulebook Bible

Tournament of Souls Chapter 13

After the Finals

"What's the point of all those push ups if you can't lift a bloody log?" – Alfred in Batman Begins

"The show must go on."

Editors' Note: The first time we looked this over we almost killed the author because he switched from the past tense to a present tense narrative a few times. He has also done this a few times in previous chapters. However, we are told that he has a reason for this. However, you, the readers, will not know what this is until about the second chapter of a different story. As for when this story is going to get started, we have not been informed. But keep an eye on your "Author Alerts". If you don't have this author on your author alerts, first of all, the majority of you deserve awards for being able to check it so frequently. Secondly, you should get him on your author alert.

After it was all over, Lucien thought that dealing with the ceremony afterward was harder than winning the tournament. But then again, Mr. Dongard helped. He had single handedly driven away the hordes of local news reporters clamoring for an interview.

"Sorry 'champ' but you can meet with your adoring public on your own time." He said rolling his eyes. Alicia walked up and handed him her deck as well as that of Max, the duelist who had defeated Raoul. Lucien looked through both decks and found several cards that could improve his prototype deck that he planned to use for the State Championship. However, when looking through Alicia's deck, he was startled. Neither Jinzo nor Spell Canceller was present.

"Alicia, you forgot to give me Jinzo and Spell Canceller." She shook her head.

"No, you see, they weren't a part of the original deck. When I received that deck to use as an eliminator, I made some edits so that I would have a greater chance of making my way to the top. However, I only have to give anyone who defeats me the original deck."

Mr. Dongard coughed to get their attention and waved over Mr. Kiwasaki who was carrying a rather large briefcase.

"I'm afraid that's not what the paperwork says miss. You had to sign several documents in order to become an eliminator." He took several sheaves of paper from the briefcase. _Mr. Dongard- not an environmentalist. If you take out the "environ" you've got it just about right though. Mental he is. _

"Here you signed agreeing to turn over the deck that you received for use as an eliminator to any who defeat you and to do the same with the deck of any other eliminators that you happened to defeat. And over here under the fine print, you signed agreeing to give the deck that you used for the tournament to any who defeat you as well as agreeing to not to tell anyone that you are an eliminator before you are either defeated or the quarter-final round. That means that you have to give Mr. Morningstar any cards that you removed or added to the deck at any point during the tournament."

Lucien winced at the formality but stepped forward to accept Jinzo and Spell Canceller. But as he closed his fingers around the cards, he noticed the tears in Alicia's eyes. Rather than taking the cards then and there, he let them hang there in limbo. He realized then that Alicia had been using the cards as a crutch, she was afraid of what her opponent could do to her plans with spell and trap cards, and so had included these cards, extremely valuable ones at that, in her deck to assuage her fears. With them on the field, she felt invincible.

And now Lucien had to take them away.

"I understand how much these cards mean to you. But you must learn to be responsible for your actions. And you need to learn not to rely on only a few cards. You need to trust your entire deck. Your deck is your team; all members must be equally important and not detract from each other. If you need them, I'll let you keep these cards, just say the word." Mr. Dongard scowled but Alicia looked at Lucien teary eyed and released her grip on the cards.

"No, you're right. I need to learn to trust my deck, not just a few cards. Take them. You deserve it." Mr. Dongard cleared his throat loudly and shooed her away.

"Now, Mr. Morningstar, select your team mates, the options are, Alicia Kestrel, Aliya Renon…" Lucien interrupted him.

"I already know who my team mates are. Aliya and Raoul will go with me to the State Championships." Mr. Dongard seized a microphone from a startled reporter.

"Will Raoul Cooper and Aliya Renon please come forward?" Lucien sensed a struggle not to say "insert higher ranking contestant" and "insert lower ranking contestant." He managed to remain stoic through a hardy (and mildly painful) slap on the back, and was glad that Aliya refrained from a hug. He wasn't sure he would be able to blame rosy cheeks on a brisk breeze only he could feel when summer was about to start.

Mr. Dongard waited patiently (this meaning that instead of forcibly lining them up, he merely tapped his foot irritably) for them to finish their congratulations before ushering them onto the bus. Mr. Dongard sat with Lucien. Aliya and Raoul sat just across the aisle incase a rescue mission was required. It helped that Mr. Dongard had made their decision for them by telling them where to sit.

The former contestants and spectators crowded onto the bus, but any potential conversations near the front of the bus were smothered by Mr. Dongard's presence. However, a one sided monologue doesn't count as conversation, so Mr. Kiwasaki chattered continuously throughout the trip.

"Wonderful job winning that last duel Lucien! When she had your life points down to 50 I thought you were a goner. And then the way you took a traditional win instead of using your deck's primary strategy was pure brilliance!" At about that point Lucien tuned him out.

When they arrived back at the shop, Mr. Dongard led the team into the back room that served as combination storage and office space. Mr. Kiwasaki followed and shut the door behind him. Mr. Dongard sat down behind the desk.

"Please, sit down, all of you." In the absence of chairs, the team members sat down boxes of merchandise. Mr. Kiwasaki remained standing but leaned against the door frame. Lucien winced; he could tell that there was a mostly monotonous monologue coming up.

"You three are now compromise the team representing the West City Area. You will be one of 32 teams from around the state of Maryland. This competition will take place at the same time as similar championships in all the other states as well as the District of Columbia. There is one notable difference between the competition in the District of Columbia and those in other areas, that being that there is no qualifying tournament due to the small area."

"There are also multiple such competitions in states with large populations and/or areas such as California, Texas, Alaska, Florida, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Hawaii, Michigan, and Connecticut." Aliya and Lucien shared a look over some of the state selections. Raoul hadn't noticed anything strange.

"As the representatives of your region, island, or alienated area, you have certain responsibilities. You are not to use or wear profane or explicit language or clothing. You are not to in any way dishonor your family, country, or region, island, or alienated area. You do not have diplomatic impunity within, or without your nation of birth unless otherwise stated." _Next he's going to make us take the Oath of Fealty. _

"Also, a program has been set up for duelists whom have never competed in major tournaments before. Usually this would not be available until after you had won a State Championship, but I've pulled a few strings and won a drawing." Mr. Kiwasaki looked up. He had a standing interest in modern art merely because he was absolutely sure that he was the only one who could understand it properly. The rest of us simply take it for granted that there is nothing to understand, and those few who believe in a greater meaning in life believe that it is not meant to be understood.

"What kind of drawing? Was it done in pastel, charcoal, pencil or laser point impression?" Mr. Dongard's eyebrow twitched.

"Not that kind of drawing. I meant a lottery type thing. In any case, a spot has been acquired for you at a decently sized outside tournament. This should give you some more experience in how team tournaments work as well as give you a taste of the fame you seem to so desire." Lucien rolled his eyes. Raoul leaned forward and on every breath you could hear; "Fame and fortune, fortune means rich, rich means girls, girls means-" Lucien kicked him in the shin.

"The outside tournament will take place next weekend, transportation is provided. You are expected to obey the pre-stated standard of behavior, dress, and speech. The State Finals are the weekend after that. You are expected to provide your own transportation." Mr. Kiwasaki dusted himself off and opened the door.

"I do believe that is all Mr. Dongard. Now there is just one small thing left. The prize." Raoul perked up and Aliya elbowed him in the ribs whispering "For Lucien you dimwit. We lost."

"You will be awarded a $50 dollar gift certificate to the store. Now if I can just find it…" He patted various pockets and pulled out a wallet from one of them and checked in that.

"How strange, I seem to have misplaced it. Oh well, I'm sure it will turn up some time, in the mean time Lucien, just remember, you have $50 dollars in credit for the store. You can use it on anything you'd like from cards to hair clips as soon as they come in, although I don't see you having any interest in the latter. Ah yes, you're sitting on them. No, not you Aliya, Lucien." Aliya pouted at Lucien and tried to make a puppy dog face.

"Don't forget, my birthday's coming up in just over a week." She batted her eyelashes and they both cracked up laughing. Raoul shivered.

"That was so much like Amy it was scary." And they started laughing all over again. When Lucien regained control of his vocal apparatus he began to leave.

"I've got to get going, I'll see you two at school." Raoul spoke to Aliya hurriedly and intercepted Lucien before he reached the door.

"Make sure to come by Aliya's for the party though. We really have something to celebrate. And don't forget to ask your mom if I can stay over for the night." Lucien nodded and began the long walk home.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About an hour later Aliya was getting worried. She and Raoul were at her house drinking soda. They even had a bottle of juice for Lucien- he doesn't drink soda, no one is quite sure why. Lucien still hadn't shown up though. He hadn't even called. Aliya could tell that Raoul wasn't happy about this; she was insisting that they wait for Lucien before ordering the pizza. At this point, she wasn't very hungry.

Raoul flicked on the TV and eyed Aliya's half full glass warily.

"Are you going to drink that?" She shook her head and he downed it with a gulp and a belch.

"I'm worried about Lucien. He ought to be here by now." Raoul shrugged and changed the channel.

"Don't be such a worry wart. Lucien knows how to take care of himself." Aliya looked down and twisted her paper napkin. After it had begun to tear around the edges Aliya put it down and went to the phone.

"I'm going to call his house. At the very least we should be able to find out whether you can sleep over there tonight." She took out a little booklet of phone numbers and started flipping through it. Raoul looked at it curiously.

"What is that?" Aliya looked up.

"Oh, this? It's the directory for the school Lucien and I attend. Yours doesn't have one?" Raoul laughed.

"Yeah, my school has one alright; it's called 'The Yellow Pages.'" Aliya found his number and called.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucien had started out running but then slowed to a jog, and then a walk. His thigh was sore from where his deck box dug into his leg, and the rest of him was sore from the fight the day before. Not many hits had been landed on him, but those that did hurt.

Lucien followed the bus route from the card store through the city. He passed what he had dubbed the "fat district" which contained many restaurants, several ice cream parlors, and movie theaters. Paradoxically there were small gyms scattered around the edge of the district. As he passed by some parking meters, a glint of silver caught his eye from the gutter. He reached down and picked up the quarter.

He pocketed it and continued on his way; eyes on the pavement.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Drriiiinng…Drriiinng…_

"Hello?"

"Hello, may I ask who is speaking please?"

"Hello Mrs. Morningstar, its Aliya. Is Lucien there?"

"No Aliya, he still hasn't come back from that tournament. And it's just Ms. Briner. Morningstar is Lucien's name and his fathers but not mine." Aliya cursed her bad memory. Lucien's parents had separated before he was born. No one knew much about Mr. Morningstar other than that he had a long foreign sounding first name that no one could remember. In fact, very few people seemed to remember very much about him at all, almost has if he had never existed; only Lucien remained as evidence.

"That's strange last we saw he was on his way to the bus stop." Raoul tapped her on the shoulder. "Oh, Raoul wants to speak to you." She handed him the phone.

"Hello."

"Hello Raoul. What is it you want to speak to me about?"

"Well, I was wondering if I could stay over for the night."

"Of course you can, anytime Raoul." Raoul sighed in relief and gave the phone to Aliya. He hadn't been looking forward to explaining the situation.

"Hi, Aliya again. I'm going to have my mother drop by the card store to see if the bus never came or something, and then maybe go along to route incase the bus broke down." She hadn't actually asked her mother about this, but she didn't doubt that she would ok with it.

"Oh would you? Thank you so much Aliya, I'd go myself, but I'm busy right now. You know how it is." Indeed. No one was quite sure why, but Lucien's mother was constantly working. She had a government job down town. It was close enough to D.C. and the costs for office space were lower, so many federal offices were in down town West City, on the far side from the park. The local government such as the courthouse (which doubled as city hall whenever it was required) and mayoral suites was right by the park, across from the poorer district that included the orphanage, low cost dwellings, a fortune teller, bars, greasy spoons, ambiguous allies and the occasisional building that had rooms rented out for anything, whether it be store, storage space, or a roof over your head.

Aliya went to get her mother from her bedroom. When she came back Raoul was standing by the door.

"Hurry up already. We have a party to save."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Passing through the business district Lucien had found two more quarters, three dimes, and a nickel. That made $1.10. He had also found half a dozen pennies, but fare machines on busses don't accept those. That was his plan; find enough money on the street to be able to catch the bus. That meant he would need a total of $1.25. Ah, another nickel. Ten cents left.

He looked in front of the court house but found nothing. Evidently lawyers were tighter fisted than the common man. But then again, you probably knew that already.

Lucien then crossed through the park where an hour before he had become city champion. Now that he thought about it, it was quite an accomplishment. He was the best of over 200 duelists and was representing a large metropolitan city. Sure, it wasn't as large as New York City, Chicago, or Los Angeles, now where close. But then again, odds are they each had several champions, and had been divided into districts for the tournament. Yes, the Bronx would have one, Harlem another.

Still though, being the Duelist Champion of West City or whatever the title wasn't that impressive. If you looked at all the millions of duelists throughout the world, he was better than 256 of them. That wasn't saying very much. And West City didn't exactly have a legacy. It had only been built about ten years ago. Then its designers had said that it would be the new center of technology and trade. Now it was just like any other city. Its population wasn't exceptionally large or small. No famous people proudly hailed from West City. They didn't have their own sports team. Still though, it was probably going to become a center of technology in the US. If Kaiba Corp. and other companies kept on bringing in stuff like that Duel Station. But then again, Japan, China, and several other nations had possessed these for a few years. Even small towns that no one would have any need to know about had them. Like Domino, Japan where the King of Games hailed from.

Lucien looked both ways before crossing the street. And there, as a cluster of people passed in front of the orphanage, was a dime sparkling in the sunlight. He dove for it and a grimy hand landed over his. He looked up at the owner of the hand, and obviously poor man whose hair was long and unwashed; likely homeless. Looking ashamed, the beggar removed his hand.

"Sorry 'bout that. You got here first after all, finders keepers." He looked longingly at a nearby hot dog stand.

Lucien felt eyes on him. Peddlers; owner of the hot dog stand included, and beggars stared at him, waiting. Eyes from the orphanage windows gazed down on him. A boy who looked to be almost his age was sitting on the steps shuffling through a deck of cards; all of them, waiting.

Lucien put the coin in his pocket. Everyone looked away, ashamed to have expected the unrequited kindness of a stranger. The boy dropped a card.

Lucien took his hand out of his pocket, and pressed it into the hand of the beggar. Then he walked away down the street. The beggar opened his hand and found $1.25 and six pennies; enough for a hot dog, including tax. He wouldn't starve today. He looked down the street at Lucien's departing shape and shouted hoarsely.

"I'll pay you back for this! Someday, I will!" Lucien disappeared the corner.

The boy leaned down and picked up the card he had dropped and turned it face up; Graceful Charity. He smiled and slipped it back into his deck.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucien turned the corner and a familiar car came up and stopped next to the curb in front of him. Raoul's head popped out the back window.

"Hey Lucien! Hop in. The party must go on!" Lucien grinned and slipped into the back seat.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Note: Sorry there was no duel this chapter. This was just really necessary. The next chapter should have a duel in it though. I have a lot of ground to cover before the State Finals.


	14. Law of the Land

Tournament of Souls

Chapter 14

Editors' Note: Once again, we would like to thank Peace Writer for his review. Yes, Lucien's Gary-Stu-ism is the author's biggest struggle. While he does intend to make him seem a bit too good at most things, and even a bit cocky, he does not intend to make Lucien come across as perfect. The author will continue to work on it. As for the improbability of that amount of money being collected, the author attempted to put the places where Lucien found the coins as logical as possible. He found the money mostly in the shopping districts (referred to as the fat district and the business district respectively) where money is more likely to be dropped. We don't know about you, but we've seen people drop coins in the gutter trying to feed parking meters plenty of times. Sometimes multiple coins. Now we don't know why they don't pick them up sometimes, as it seems stupid to us, but it happens. As for the number of beggars, the author didn't intend to imply that there were many of them. And note that this is just from Lucien's perspective. He has no way of knowing for sure that they are beggars; something of an unfair assumption. However, you do make a good point Peace Writer. One thing though- it was the boy, not Lucien who dropped the card. In fact, the story said "ashamed to have expected the unrequited kindness of a stranger. The boy dropped a card." Other than that, all of your points are valid and the author will work on improving his work through your sage advice. Thank you Peace Writer!

Author's Note: The editors have far too much to say. Next time they should say "Assume that all mistakes were not in fact mistakes on the part of the author unless stated otherwise." It would save a lot of time. Except then they would still need to list the ones that actually were mistakes on my part, which remain far too many. Blast. Enough about me- back to Lucien and Co. Just so you know, West City, and the world in general have different laws and procedures than what you may be used to. So please, do not say I've gotten such and such a law wrong, or that it doesn't work that way. This isn't the world you live in.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucien woke up when Raoul started doing push ups- army style on his bedroom floor. He sat up in bed and glared at Raoul.

"Can't a guy get some sleep these days?"

Raoul stopped doing push ups and stood up gaining the advantage of height. "Not after 9 AM he can't."

Lucien groaned and lay back down."Go get some breakfast and leave me in peace."

Raoul chuckled and made his way to the kitchen. He knew the way; he'd been there plenty of times before.

Lucien thought back to the previous day. Who knew dueling all day could take so much out of you? Then again, maybe it wasn't so much all of the duels as that last duel. Maybe those holograms hadn't been real, but try telling that to all the endorphins and whatever-the-others-are-called-phins running amok in his body. He felt like he had tried to run a marathon. Or maybe that was the several miles long walk/run/jog/crawling pace though actually on only two limbs that had taken it out of him.

**_I really need to get out more. If I can't even walk a few miles without tiring I'm really out of shape._** _Well, I did defend myself against a bunch of older guys with better weaponry. **Weaponry? So I was in my own little war? A pipe hardly qualifies as weaponry. In any case, they weren't that tough. Not in much better shape than me; maybe worse shape in the case of some of them. And they were just playing with me, like cats with a mouse. It was a fluke that I got out of that in one, not overly blue berry colored piece. **_

Lucien moaned his way slowly out of bed. No harm in it now that there was no one to hear him. He dropped down and attempted a few push ups. He was pathetic and he knew it. He tried to get up for an army styled one and fell flat.

_Almost end of school resolution numero uno: Get some muscle. _

_Number two: Don't embarrass yourself while you're at it._

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Monday came round Aliya was at school, same as always with an English test third period. Problem was that even though she had calmed down after the party, everyone else was just getting started.

Spectators had not only gone ape, but rabbit as well. Every time she turned around there were more. By the afternoon, it seemed like most of the female population of the school had found a place in the group of people who had watched Aliya's duels. Of course it wasn't possible, but these good people wouldn't lie either. It was best just to accept what they said.

Few people credited Lucien. The ones around Aliya said that she could beat him. And maybe she could. The student defeats the teacher and all that. In fact, she had beaten him. Most people had; before this tournament. Something was different now. Something had clicked. If about 10 of the human brain is normally functional, and Lucien had used to use about 2 to duel, then now he had amplified that all the way up to around 13 of his brain that he was using to duel.

_And I'm making him sound like Jinzo. Amplify indeed._

Still, there was no way to know. If she hadn't lost to what was discredited as "a stroke of luck having the one card in the entire game that can stop you face down on the field. She must have cheated to have Barrel Behind the Door Down!" maybe she would have beaten Lucien. Aliya doubted it.

_But anything is possible…_

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It wasn't until the next day, Tuesday that anything important actually happened. It isn't every day that Lucien was called out of class by the loudspeaker. Admittedly it was something of a relief, it was the last period of the day and he had already finished the quiz. On second thought, being marched off by policemen wasn't exactly the best thing that had ever happened to him.

His rights were explained to him, and he was told why he was there. Evidently he had done some serious damage to one of the people whom had attacked him on the first day of the tournament. If Lucien hadn't still been sporting bruises, he would have forgotten about it, or tried really hard at any rate.

In any case, he was being charged with armed assault or some such thing. The West City judicial system was somewhat sloppy. Cases like this turned up every day and got thrown out on technicalities. Why should is be any different?

_This should probably bother me. I should just get off on self defense though. _Still, what was amazing was that the kid would need plastic surgery if he was ever going to look the same. The reason the arrest had been so delayed was that he had hidden the fact that his nose had been broken and some of the surrounding tissues severely damaged, and the damage had gotten worse over time. Admittedly the police hadn't told him the last part, but he could figure that out for himself.

The part that he didn't quite believe was that he had done all of that damage on his own; a kid with a bit of PVC pipe. It must have been the thug who got hit with the bit of metal piping that broke off. At the time it had seemed like a gift from above. Now it was some of the worst luck he'd ever had.

Now if only he could get a half-way decent lawyer instead of whomever the county coughed up…

Worse, what was his mother going to say?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucien's mother didn't say much. The police decided that since he was a juvenile, he would be tried as a juvenile, and that he wouldn't have to stay in jail before the hearing (thanks again to the bizarre local judicial system). The only good thing that could be said about it was that she broke down into tears quickly enough so he could be alone in his room with his books and his cards; alone with all that paper, he could believe that he needed nothing and no one else.

Then he got hungry.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aliya was the first to discover what had happened. After school, she had looked for Lucien all over. He wasn't at his locker, in the library, or at the bus stop. There weren't that many solitary corners in the school, but she checked all of them. Then she remembered that he had been out of class over the intercom. She hadn't considered this as a serious option previously as he never got into trouble. Well, rules are made to be broken after all.

The problem was, no one in the office wanted to tell her what had happened. In the end, she had to pull out a few tricks that the adults in charge could never resist. She slowly got more hysterical until she was practically in tears. After glancing around the office, a secretary took Aliya aside.

"Lucien was taken away by the police. Now if he's done anything to you, you can just tell me, ok hun?"

Aliya stared at her for a moment before breaking away and dashing out of the office. Soon enough she slowed down. Her mother was going to be picking her up any moment. And it wasn't like she could run to the police station and find out why they'd taken Lucien. _They arrested Lucien. No, they can't have. He hasn't done anything. Not Lucien, he's the last person who would break the law, unless he had good reason. That's it. He must have had a reason. But why didn't he tell me?_

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It wasn't until the next day that she found out what had happened. Lucien was back at school. Somehow or another, via the one or two 'eye witnesses' the entire school knew what had happened. Normally he was ignored. Now people watched him fearfully, avoiding him at all costs. It was as if at any moment, he was going to strike, pull out a knife and start slitting throats with a dreadful methodology. Even Aliya could imagine it.

Even worse, he was acting just as he always did, as if nothing had changed. Maybe for him nothing had.

It didn't help that he had chosen to wear all black. He was wearing his oft neglected glasses, but their slim oval lenses had slid halfway down his nose and didn't help his image any.

Normally someone would have remarked and asked why he wore all black. He would always say it was just the first thing out of the closet. Now for the first time, Aliya doubted. She tried to catch his eye in the hall or during their few classes together, but he didn't respond. He was no where to be seen during lunch.

During the break after lunch (it hadn't been called recess for over a year, recess was for little kids), she headed outside trying to dodge her usual group of friends. When Aliya stepped into the grey outdoors, she scanned the area for any sign of Lucien. He wasn't anywhere on the play ground that she could see, not even his usual spots where he would curl up with a book.

She took another step forward and tripped over a stray skateboard and almost went down the small flight of stairs headfirst. She turned back in frustration only to see Lucien trying to slip back inside.

"Lucien!" She called after him. He turned as if he hadn't noticed her.

"Oh, hey Aliya, how are you?"

"I'm fine; it's you I'm worried about!" She grabbed his wrist, and he let her drag him back outside. "Why were you dragged off by the police yesterday? I know it's just some kind of misunderstanding-"

Lucien chuckled breaking her off mid thought.

"No you don't."

"I don't what?"

"You don't know. You think I've done something. You just aren't sure what. The difference between you and them is that you're going to find out. The rest will wait for you to tell them."

Aliya was exasperated.

"To tell them what?"

"What I'm about to tell you of course."

"Get on with it!"

She didn't know which was worse. That he got on with it, or that he was so infuriatingly calm about it.

"I've been charged with assault. During the first day of the tournament, some guy tried to cheat. He lost and ran. I followed him. No good reason to do so, but I'd lost my temper. Evidently he was the sole surviving representative among his little group of friends, and after he told them what had happened, they all ganged up on me. I'm not entirely sure why. By some miracle I defended myself with a bit of PVC pipe. One of their pipes, made out of metal, broke and a piece of it went flying into one of their noses. It will need plastic surgery, and odds are it will never look the same. Why should it? His nose didn't look to special to begin with, odds are he'll have it done up nice and straight."

_Jokes at a time like this? What's he playing at; you'd think that he's proud of being a criminal._

"Why were you only apprehended today then? Why not when it happened, on Friday?"

"Evidently the fool hid it until this afternoon when his mother saw it and reported it to the police."

"But it wasn't your fault, it was self defense, and it wasn't like you even broke his nose. It was an accident; you can't be held accountable for that."

"The way these people tell it, I walked out of the card store, picked up a metal pipe, and started beating at them with some kind of demonic strength. And there is no evidence against it. The rest slowly turned up with all kinds of bruises and such that I'd never seen before. I'm certain I didn't inflict most of them."

"Most of them?"

"Well, I must admit to having gotten a few shots in, after all, if I hadn't, there would be a nice Lucien shaped stain on the wall right in between the door and the graffiti skull." The bell rang, and Lucien slipped off and disappeared around a corner before Aliya could speak.

She decided that Lucien needed help. And that he was going to get it. As soon as she got home, Aliya called Raoul.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday afternoon they were all at the courthouse. Raoul had called a team meeting, and turned it into a confessional. Lucien had told them every detail of what had happened during the fight, right down to how the pipe had broken on the wall above his head, and the end of it had gone flying into his attacker's face. Aliya, her parents, and Raoul all were in agreement that Lucien should get off without any punishment.

Aliya's mother had driven them up to the courthouse for Lucien's preliminary hearing, where according to West City law the prosecution would make their case for why there was enough evidence for it to go to court. Lucien's state granted lawyer (Aliya's parents had to convince him not to try and represent himself, and then he had to convince them not to find him a better lawyer) was then supposed to make it seem like there wasn't enough proof to make it seem even vaguely possible that Lucien was guilty of anything.

The preliminary trial began, and while Lucien had to sit up at the front next to his lawyer, a young man you seemed much too energetic to have the job of a trial lawyer, his friends sat at the back of the court room. About fifteen minutes into it, no one had gotten anywhere, and Raoul needed to go to the bathroom. After a few minutes of whispered argument between him and Aliya as to whether it was more disrespectful to try and search out a bathroom, or to go where he sat, a court official came up and asked if they would like to be excused from the courtroom. Raoul accepted and left his backpack next to Aliya, and as he and the official left, Aliya could hear him saying, "So, where are the refreshments in this joint?" _Hopeless._

Ten minutes later, the trial was still going on, and Raoul still hadn't come back. Aliya slipped out the door as quietly as she could, but her exit didn't go unnoticed. A minute or so later, a man of imposing figure excused himself from the shallow pool of back suited spectators and made his way out.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After relieving himself, Raoul had gone to search for a snack. After a brief search, he found some vending machines out near the entrance to the building. Problem was he didn't recognize half of the brand names. And he had thought that he had known all of them. They were a tad pricier than average too. Just as he had decided on a packet of gourmet mustard flavored pretzels, he heard Aliya walking down the hallway. She was trying to stomp along angrily as Lucien might have done, but she didn't have quite the same effect.

"What are you doing? Lucien's fate could be decided at any moment, and here you are, buying snacks. Come on, let's go."

Raoul ignored the tugging on his arm and inserted a two dollar bill. "Just let me get my pretzels."

Aliya was flabbergasted. "Pretzels! What do you-" Then she was cut off by Raoul's kicking at the machine. There was a nice foot shaped dent near the bottom that worked well for the purpose.

"Damned machine, even you high class things eat my money! It's classist!"

At this point, a deep belly laugh rolled over them. "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure of that, it has stolen money from those richer than any of us. And the politically correct term is 'biased by class.'"

The two friends turned to face the owner of the voice, who turned out to be a rather large man in a trench coat over a business suit. He held out a hand (which they shook in turn) and introduced himself as Adolfus Beurreginsky (pronounced Burg-in-skee), a local defense lawyer. It turned out that Aliya had heard of him, because he had headed the defense in several well publicized cases, both there and in the capital. As soon as introductions were over and done with, he pulled a key out of his pocket and approached the vending machine.

"Everyone who works here has a key to the vending machine, because this old thing has never worked properly. Give me a hand here, will you?" He and Raoul moved the machine away from the wall, and the lawyer unlocked the back. "What was it you wanted?"

"The mustard flavor gourmet pretzels." Raoul said making a bit of a face. Mr. Beurreginsky turned around just in time to catch it and laughed.

"I'm afraid that I agree with you there. Sometimes a guy just needs a bit of well processed junk food, not all this gourmet stuff." He chuckled and tossed Raoul the bag of pretzels before locking up the vending machine. "So, what brings the local champions to the courthouse?"

Raoul explained the situation to the lawyer, who nodded every so often. When he finished, Adolfus was silent for a moment. Then he stroked his chin, rather as if he had a beard saying,

"It seems to me like your friend is going to need a better defense than that buffoon the state gave him is going to put up. The prosecution is being led by an old- colleague of mine." The way he said it made it clear that they had never helped each other with vending machines. "He knows what he's doing. I've seen him get more good men in jail than I care to think about. He gets some kind of pleasure out of punishing people; guilty or not."

Just then, Raoul got what seemed like a shocking new idea.

"Well, if you don't like that guy, why don't you defend Lucien?"

Aliya rolled her eyes, but the lawyer smiled. "I was wondering when you would catch onto that. I would be glad to defend your friend- on one condition. You need to duel me, and win."

Aliya's eyebrow went up like a shot. "How much money will it cost? No one does something like that for free."

"That's why I want to duel you. My only price is that you all do your best to get this town a name for itself. If you can beat me, Raoul, at least two of the members of the team are good. No offense, but that is all that is truly required. As long as two members of the team consistently win, the third member is irrelevant."

"That… almost makes sense." Aliya looked confused, but realized that she wasn't going to get a better answer. Raoul didn't care about the reasoning, he just wanted to duel, and get his friend out of the hole that he'd managed to dig for himself. If Raoul thought in metaphors, the only thing he'd be thinking about would be the size of the shovel. Since he doesn't, it is slightly irrelevant, though interesting.

In any case, Raoul was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, though the lawyer remained impassive.

"Do you have your deck with you Raoul? If not, I can wait."

"Oh no, I have it." Raoul went for his pocket and stopped halfway. "Damn, I must have left it in my backpack. Just give me a minute. Raoul started to jog down the hallway, but Mr. Beurreginsky stopped him.

"You may want to have me get it. The court marshals have been known to get over excited when they have someone to keep out of the courtroom. Their job is terribly dreary I'm afraid. I'll get it for you. Meet me at the duel station across the lawn." At that the lawyer began to stride down the hall, as Raoul and Aliya walked in the other direction.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As soon as Adolfus arrived, the duel began. Both males who were normally talkative became suddenly solemn as soon as the duel station turned on. Raoul's 'gem' turned purple, his opponent's became ying-yang symbol. Aliya had already decided that the Kaiba Corp. technology had some way of reading the decks, therefore Raoul's turned the same purple as the Dark Magician, and something in Adolfus's deck had caused it to decide that a ying-yang was the most appropriate representation.

Adolfus Beurreginsky (AB): 8000

Raoul: 8000

The spinner appeared with purple and black and white striped sections. After a few spins it ended on a striped portion. The lawyer would be going first.

"I will set a monster, and one card face down. Your turn." Raoul drew and began to formulate his plans.

"I will also set a monster, and I will set two cards down behind it. Your up." Aliya was already getting bored of all the setting. She didn't have long to wait. It was the lawyer's turn again.

"I flip my face down monster, Dice Jar (200/300)." Raoul stared open mouthed.

"What are you using that for? I must say, I may have overestimated you. That card is just as likely to help me as it is you." The lawyer shrugged.

"That has yet to be seen. For the benefit of our newly gained audience," Indeed, several park goers had stopped to watch the duel "I will recite the effect. We each roll one die. The one who gets the lower number takes damage equal to the number that their opponent rolled multiplied by 600. Unless of course their opponent rolled a six in which case they would take 6000." A holographic wooden die appeared suspended on each field. The dice rolled themselves. Raoul got a five, and Adolfus was left with a three. Raoul laughed out loud for a moment, and stopped when he heard Adolfus.

"I activate my face down card; Dice Re-Roll. This card allows me to have any roll of the die caused by an effect, re-done." The die rolled again. They were tied at five. Once again, the dice rolled. This time Adolfus came out on top with a six, when Raoul was stuck with a four.

"Sorry kid."

AB: 8000

Raoul: 2000

"There's nothing to be sorry for. That was a perfectly clean shot, if a bit risky."

"Good, now that we're sure that there are no hard feelings, I summon Jirai Gumo (2200/100). Then I play Second Coin Toss, which, once again for the benefit of the audience, allows me to re-flip any coin toss. This card however, is continuous." The giant spider appeared on the field and behind it a goblin tossing and catching a coin.

"Jirai Gumo, attack. As you know, when I attack with this monster, I must flip a coin, and call it. If I'm wrong, I lose half my life points. I think it will be heads." A holographic coin appeared and flipped, and landed on tails. The lawyer motioned towards the goblin sitting on his back field, and the coin flipped again. And landed on tails. Again. The lawyer frowned as his spider ripped apart the face down Skilled White Magician (1700/1900) and his life points lowered.

AB: 4000

Raoul: 2000

"Well, since it's in attack mode I'll have Dice Jar attack you as well."

AB: 4000

Raoul: 1800

"Then I'll just set a card face down and end my turn."

It was looking like it was about to be one of the quickest duels that most people had ever witnessed. They just weren't entirely sure who was going to win. Then again, from a spectator's perspective that's a fairly minor point.

Try telling that to your neighbors Monday night during the football season.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucien was getting bored out of his mind. His lawyer was pacing the floor as if it was some kind of legal drama, while the judge propped up his head with one hand while scratching at something on his desk. Honestly he couldn't blame his friends for leaving. _I just hope they've found something more entertaining to do. Not that it would take much. _Well, at least his lawyer was having fun.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was just Raoul's second turn, and things were already looking bad. He looked over his hand, and didn't see an immediate solution to his current predicament. He drew. Now things were beginning to look up.

"I summon Blast Magician (1400/1700)." In a whirl of flames, the red armored magician appeared swinging its scythe.

"Then I will activate my face down card, Pitch Black Power Stone. When it's flipped it automatically gets three spell counters on it and once per turn I can move one of them to a monster that uses spell counters. I'll do that now." One of the gems on Blast Magician's scythe began to glow.

"Then I'll play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Second Coin Toss. That adds another spell counter to my magician." A second gem glowed.

"To end my turn, I'll set one card face down."

The lawyer smiled, but as soon as he had drawn, Raoul prevented him from speaking.

"Before you do anything, I activate Thunder of Ruler during your standby phase. Now my life points are safe for this turn."

The lawyer sighed. "That they are my friend. I can only activate my face down trap card, Good Goblin House Keeping. This allows me to draw one card, and then another card for each copy of this card that are already in the graveyard. Then I must return one card from my hand to the bottom of my deck." He drew a card, and then after some thought, placed another at the bottom of his deck.

"Now I will set two cards face down and pass to you."

Raoul grinned broadly.

"First of all, I will summon Apprentice Magician (400/800), and add a spell counter to Blast Magician by its effect. Then I will move a fourth counter to it from Pitch-Black Power Stone. From the look on you face I take it that you know what that means?" Amazed, the lawyer nodded.

"Good. Now I will remove all four spell counters from Blast Magician to destroy your Jirai Gumo." The glows of the four gems were removed from them, and with a wave of the scythe, were flung towards the giant spider, which was incinerated.

"Now, Blast Magician, attack the Dice Jar which has been so kindly left in attack mode."

The lawyer grinned and flipped up a card. "I activate Fairy Box. Now if I can flip heads, your monster's attack will become zero." A box formed around Dice Jar, and at random intervals it would come up out of a hole sticking its tongue out, and once with a sign saying "Whack-a-Jar". The coin flipped, and landed on tails. The lawyer looked around in vain for his Second Coin toss only to remember that it had been destroyed. Dice Jar had been scythed.

AB: 2800

Raoul: 1800

"Now, Apprentice Magician, attack directly."

AB: 2400

Raoul: 1800

"I end after setting one card." Adolfus drew a card.

"First I must pay 500 life points to keep Fairy Box on the field."

AB: 1900

Raoul: 1800

"Then I activate my second Good Goblin Housekeeping to draw two cards." Once again, he returned a carefully selected card to the bottom of his deck.

"Now I'll play one of the cards I just drew. Reasoning."

Raoul looked puzzled.

"Reasoning?" He thought for a moment. "Oh yeah, I have to select a monster level, and then you pick up cards until you reach a monster, and if I guessed wrong on the level, you get to special summon it."

The lawyer nodded. "Now guess."

Immediately the African American boy responded, "Four."

The lawyer picked up card, depositing them in his graveyard one by one until he smiled and showed the card to Raoul and placed it on the field.

"I have drawn a level seven monster; Barrel Dragon and it is special summoned."

Raoul gazed at the monster in awe. "I love that monster. I gave that to my brother to use in his deck. I- I can't fight against it."

Adolfus scowled. "I'm glad that you like my monster, but you need to get rid of the silly notion that it would be betraying your brother to go against it."

"My brother is dead."

The scowl deepened. "What would your brother think if he saw you stalling because your opponent played his monster? Do you think he'd be proud? No! He'd be ashamed that you were giving up opportunity for some absurd reason. I would know. I always wanted to be a lawyer, to defend the innocent, just like my father. When he died, I didn't want to go into law school because I was afraid that I would dishonor him. Look at me now, I'm a well known and respected lawyer, more than my father ever was. And some days I look up and know that he'd be proud of me. Raoul, forget your doubt, and do what needs to be done."

Raoul nodded. "Alright, and thanks for the pep talk. Go on with your move."

"Very well. Now I will attack your Apprentice Magician with Barrel Dragon for the win."

"I think not. I chain with my trap card, Nutrient Z. When I would take 2000 or more damage from an attack, I gain 4000 life points before I take damage." Apprentice Magician was decimated by cannon fire.

AB: 1900

Raoul: 3600

"Now as you should know, Apprentice Magician allows me to get another spellcaster with two or fewer stars face down. Continue your turn."

"In that case, I will play another Second Coin Toss." A second gem on Blast Magician's scythe began to glow.

"Now I will set a card face down and use my Barrel Dragon's ability to try and destroy your face down monster." Three coins appeared in the air and flipped. Two of the three landed on heads. The face down Old Vindictive Magician was destroyed.

"It is your turn." Raoul closed his eyes and drew. When he opened them he jumped up and punched the air.

"Now I've got this game in the bag. First I will move the last spell counter from Pitch-Black Power Stone to Blast Magician. Now I play Premature Burial to special summon Skilled White Magician from my graveyard at the cost of 800 life points."

AB: 1900

Raoul: 2800

"Now I will activate Blast Magician's ability to remove all four spell counters on it to destroy a monster with 700 attack times the number of spell counters or less. Namely your Barrel Dragon." The mechanized monster was decimated.

"Now I will tribute both of my monsters for Dark Magician. Now I can play Dark Magic Attack to rid your field of Fairy Box along with any other troublesome traps." The lawyer shielded his face as his back field, including a copy of Skull Dice was obliterated.

"Dark Magician, attack directly!" The magician repeated its previous attack, this time targeting the lawyer.

AB: 0

Raoul: 2800

As they dismounted from the duel monsters projector, the lawyer dusted himself off. As he led them through the thinning spectators, he congratulated Raoul on his dueling skills and when they met Lucien waiting on the front steps of the courthouse said,

"Well my young friend, you've just gotten yourself a new defense lawyer."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adolfus had been correct in assuming that the state given lawyer was no good. The case was going to go to court. But now that Lucien had a decent lawyer, things were looking up. When he had tried to say that he was in debt to Raoul, it had been insisted that they call it even.

Unfortunately, on the other side of the case, the same gang that had fought Lucien was planning its revenge. One thing was for sure, it wasn't going to be fair, even if it was going to use the legal system. And once again, Lucien would be helpless it intervene, depending on his friends to save him. It won't be the last time either.


	15. All is Fair in Love, War, and Law

Tournament of Souls Chapter 15

Trial

"Then you don't think he's dead, then?"

He put on his hat. "Now I may be wrong, of course, but I think he's very alive. Shows all the symptoms of it. Go have a look at him, and when I come back we'll have a get together and decide." – Harper Lee, _To Kill a Mocking Bird _

"Where do you hide a red fish? In a pond full of other red fish." – Mercedes Lackey, A Shin'a'in proverb

"If you've a story, make sure it's a whole one, with details close to

hand. It's the difference between a successful lie and getting

caught." - Tamora Pierce, _Trickster's Choice_

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The trial was scheduled for Friday evening. After the "pre-trial" on Thursday (the official term for the "pre-trial" was hearing, but few non-reporters remember that) Adolfus Beurreginsky, Lucien's new lawyer, had questioned Lucien thoroughly as to what had happened. Lucien had left him in his office musing over the new information, and arranging, and re-arranging his notes.

The lawyer had enough notes to paper a room with, and they were all written in small, painfully neat print. He had notes on Lucien's story; Lucien's family, and just about everything else about Lucien. He had notes on the prosecuting lawyer, and all publicly available information on the accuser and the known witnesses. He even had notes on the judge.

When Adolfus was there to pick Lucien up from school, he wrote his lawyer down as "slightly obsessed" and got in the car. He wasn't going to complain about a free ride, and it was raining heavily. They got out at the lawyer's office, right next to the courthouse. Lucien was told that among lawyers one of the signs of success was proximity to the courthouse. If this was true, then Mr. Beurreginsky must have been the most successful lawyer in West City because his office was on the basement level of the building next to the courthouse- and was right next to a door connecting the two buildings.

He took Lucien into the office and outlined their case. "Your case" he called it, though the way Lucien saw it, it was as much the lawyer's as anyone's. After all, he had planned out their arguments, told Lucien what and what not to say. He even told Lucien under what conditions to lie at the witness stand.

"And remember, stay consistent. I don't care if you got knocked over the head and can't remember exactly what happened, or everything's gotten fuzzy with adrenaline and time, but keep the story simple. You and I know that things aren't as clear cut as we might like, but if your story has holes in it, or is the least bit fuzzy, you're just begging the jury to convict you."

"What of the law? Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

"That hasn't stopped anyone yet."

Lucien wondered if their star witness, Mr. Kiwasaki had gotten the same treatment.

After their conference, which included mock questioning, the pair went into the courtroom. Two things about the West City judicial system; the courthouse had two court rooms, and several judges; one courtroom was for the civil suits, and the other for criminal cases. Once there had been plans for a separate room for juvenile cases, but it had been decided that it would be impractical as there were not enough juvenile criminals to warrant it.

When they reached the courtroom it was empty. They were still a few hours early after all. The first thing they did was reserve seats for Lucien's friends and family. Adolfus predicted that there would be a bit of a crowd.

"You see, you're this town's celebrity, just as much as a star football player would be. Anything about you and anyone who cares about dueling wants to know it. Consider yourself lucky that we don't have a major newspaper or T.V. station based here. If we did, you'd have reporters all over this place. As it is, this will probably make the front page of the West City Chronicle but nothing else."

"Wonderful, and there can't be more than a few thousand people who read that. And most of those are old ladies, so it's not too bad."

"So you don't like the lime light?"

"Not particularly. I'll take it over a search light though."

Just before the trial started, Lucien looked around. The seats he had reserved for his friends were still empty. _Maybe something came up. **Maybe they have something better to do than watch their idiot friend get himself thrown into juvenile hall. **Real optimistic aren't I?** I have good reason to be pessimistic. **I have a better lawyer than I have reason to be pessimistic though. _When he looked to the back of the room, Lucien was surprised to see his mother's ex-husband and his unwillingly present son. _No, not her ex-husband, my old step dad. _His mother had divorced her husband after continuing arguments, often centered on Lucien's step-brother and money troubles. Lucien still saw him occasionally as they had gotten on well. Evidently he had heard about the trial and dragged his son, whom Lucien didn't exactly get along with, along. _Thanks… dad. And he really is the closest thing to a father I've ever had._

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aliya and Raoul were stuck in traffic. Aliya's mother was driving them from Raoul's house to the trial, but there was heavy traffic from about two blocks away from the park on down. Evidently there had been a fire down at a warehouse somewhere down the road, and the fire trucks and emergency vehicles had traffic backed up for a long ways. In the back seat (it had only taken one Chinese fire drill to get Aliya from the front to the back) Raoul and Aliya were mercilessly critiquing each others' decks.

When they came up next to the park, across from the courthouse, Aliya looked at the clock and cursed.

"Damn, the trial's about to start! We're going to be late, there's no way we can get through this traffic."

Raoul looked around. "We could just cut across the park. It would be a lot quicker for the two of us to walk than it would be for your mother to drive all the way around."

After getting her mother's permission, the two duelists got out of the car, and crossed the street in front of the orphanage, accompanied by the honks of the surrounding cars. Luckily it had stopped raining not long after they had left Raoul's house, but the majority of the park was a mud pit with grass on top. To avoid the mud, the pair walked along one of the more rambling paths up around the park, on the high side, and then back down to the courthouse. When they were about half way along, Aliya tripped over something, and went flying into the mud. When she came up, a bit of paper was stuck to her now muddy shirt. She peeled it off and made as if to throw it away when she saw what it was.

"Oh my god, Raoul, look at this!"

Her friend grabbed and rubbed some mud off of it, revealing that it was a picture; a picture that showed Lucien with a metal rod about to jam it into someone's face. "It can't be real."

"How can't it be?" Aliya's voice quavered.

"It must have had Photoshop used on it. Look here." Raoul said pointing. "Lucien's eyes in the picture are all wrong. And the lashes on the bottom are way too thick. If you ask me, Lucien had his eyes closed and someone edited in someone else's eyes. But they didn't edit out Lucien's eyelashes, so they're double thick on the bottom. And if Lucien's eyes were closed, then he couldn't have been trying to stab the guy in the nose with the pipe; which suggests that the pipe was edited in. Just look at Lucien's face. His mouth is cracked open. Would you do that as you hit someone? Probably not."

As convincing as Raoul's case was. Aliya still doubted it. Raoul wasn't a detective, no matter what insights he could make when under pressure. And right now, Aliya had things to worry about other than Lucien's guilt.

"Where did the picture come from?"

Raoul, still in detective mode was only too glad to reply. "It must have fallen out of a pocket or backpack. The foot prints keep going down the hill and towards the courthouse. And I think our suspect is on his way to collect what he dropped."

And indeed, a slim figure was making his way up the hill through the mud wearing a long raincoat. As he got closer, they recognized him as one of the witnesses for the prosecution, a gang member. Lucien had identified him as the one who stayed out of the fight along with the one who had cheated. When he caught site of the two friends holding the picture, he cursed and walked faster. When he reached them, he held out his hand for the picture.

"I see you've found something of mine. Would you be so kind as to return it?" The gangster was playing the kind individual who has lost something. Raoul slipped the picture into his pocket.

"And what if I don't want to give it back?"

"I need it as evidence in court. The trial is about to begin. Please, I must have it."

"Well I like this picture. I'm keeping it." Raoul had been forced into the role of bully. He looked like he was enjoying himself. The gangster glared at him.

"Then I'll just have to take it from you." The gangster tried to grab for the picture, but Raoul turned so that he was unable to reach the pocket.

"I'm stronger than you. You can't take it from me."

The gangster realized the situation just as another person came up over the hill. He outsized Raoul by three inches at least. Upon seeing the slim gangster, he spoke.

"The lawyer's waiting for you. Do you have the last picture yet?"

"I would, but these stooges won't let me have it back."

The big guy was another gang member, Aliya remembered that now. From the looks of it he was stupid. _But he can still out-muscle me. Who can't? And I've got a nasty feeling that he's out of Raoul's league. _

"I could take it for you. Should I take it?"

While the conversation took place, Raoul beckoned to Aliya and they began to make their way around the path. Unfortunately the skinny one wasn't as dumb as all that.

"You two, stay still. Or I'll set Angus on you. Won't I Angus?" The two friends shared a look that clearly said 'What was his mother thinking?'

"Sure, we won't move. But we won't give you the picture either. If your friend of the red meat comes after us, we'll rip it into shreds so small you won't be able to tell what it was." In Raoul's mind, guilt wasn't an issue. If Lucien had done it, he had good reason, to hell with the law.

Aliya's thoughts weren't as succinct. She wasn't sure if Lucien had done it or not. She wasn't even sure if he'd been defending himself. _But Lucien doesn't do anything without a reason. The only question is the reason. Maybe he belongs in jail… no. I have to trust Lucien. He's helped me before; he's not a bad person. He's done good things. Maybe he's just made one mistake, why should he live to regret that for the rest of his life? And his being in juvi hall will disqualify him and the team from the State Championship as well as the outside tournament this weekend._

It looked like the skinny one had made a decision. "Unless you have a better solution, I'm going to have to tell Angus to beat you up and take the picture. And if you rip it before he gets to you, he's going to beat the both of you up anyhow. There's no one out here to see, and no one can see this far from the street. Plus, the hill is in the way."

Raoul wanted to run for all he was worth. He might even have made it out of there intact if he tried. Aliya could see it in the way he held himself. But he wasn't going to leave Aliya there. She wouldn't have a chance. She had to think of something before a fight was started. _There's only one thing I can do._

"I'll duel you for the picture." All of them stared at her in disbelief.

"What?"

"You heard me, I'll duel one of you for the picture. You do play duel monsters, don't you?"

The skinny one grinned. "You bet I do. And I'm willing to bet the picture that I'm better than you are. I was just barely beaten by an eliminator in the early rounds of the tournament. Angus will keep an eye on you two while I get my deck. I won't be long."

With that, the skinny one walked off in the direction of the orphanage, and the street Raoul and Aliya had just come from.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucien saw the prosecution's witnesses leaving. First he thought they were going to the bathroom, but when the second one left and didn't come back within the next few minutes he began to wonder. _Well, it's all for the better I suppose; less witnesses against me. I just hope they've gotten into trouble or something that will keep them away for awhile._

Still, he wished Aliya and Raoul were there. Loath as he might be to admit it, he guts were acting like an angry bag of kangaroos. They were jumping just as high. The prosecuting lawyer was starting to look antsy too. Now that made Lucien feel a bit better; but not much.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the skinny one got back Raoul handed Aliya the picture 'just in case.' Evidently he wasn't about to trust the gangsters not to cheat and have the big one go for the picture anyhow. Each duelist inserted a deck, and the gems changed color accordingly. Aliya's went rainbow and her opponent's turned a dull yellow. The spinner appeared in the middle of the field and landed on dull yellow.

"Before we duel, allow me to introduce myself properly. You may call me Sanchez." Aliya's opponent drew his six cards with purpose.

Aliya: 8000

Sanchez: 8000

"And I'm Aliya. Get on with your turn."

"I will simply set a monster and a face down card before passing to you."

Aliya checked over her hand. It wasn't the best hand she'd ever gotten, but it was fairly good. And it had some of the new cards that she's gotten from the tournament. Raoul may have critiqued some of her choices, but this was her first real chance to test them out.

"First I'll play Soul Absorption. Now whenever a monster is removed from play, I gain 500 life points. I'll follow that up with Nobleman of Crossout, removing your face down monster from play." A crouching Throwstone Unit faded away.

Aliya: 8500

Sanchez: 8000

"Unfortunately it wasn't a flip effect, so no other copies were removed from play. But now I summon The Agent of Creation- Venus (1600/0). I'll activate its special ability three times, paying 500 life points each to summon some Mystical Shine Balls (500/500)." A long haired angel appeared with three orbs rotating around it. Slowly the orbs came down to the field.

Aliya: 7000

Sanchez: 8000

"Now I'm not too happy about your face down card, so I'm going to play have another nobleman take care of it; the Nobleman of Extermination." Negate Attack turned up, and faded away. Sanchez took one more copy from his deck and removed it from play as well.

Aliya: 8000

Sanchez: 8000

"Finally I will attack directly with all four of my monsters." The angel of creation looked sadly at her opponent before the three smaller fairies were sent whizzing toward him.

Aliya: 8000

Sanchez: 4900

"As a final precaution before I end my turn, I'll play the field magic card Sanctuary in the Sky." The roof of a heavenly palace with Greek architecture rose out of the dueling field.

Sanchez drew and smirked upon seeing his five card hand compared to Aliya's scant one. "I summon Marauding Captain (1200/400). Then by its effect I special summon Mataza the Zapper (1300/800), who has the ability to attack twice." The two monsters took to the field brandishing their swords.

"Mataza, attack two of her little fairies, and my Marauding Captain will take care of the last." Mataza dashed across the field, slashed one Mystical Shine Ball, and stabbed another in one smooth movement. Then it ran back to its side just as fast as it had come. Marauding Captain took his time, and stood over his victim before letting his blade fall.

Sanchez waited for his opponent's life points to fall, but they never did. Aliya giggled.

"Sanctuary in the Sky stops the controller of a fairy from taking damage from battles with that fairy."

The gangster snorted. "That won't matter when your fairies are all dead and gone. I set a card face down, and end my turn."

Aliya drew. "My fairies aren't going to be dead for a good long time yet. Venus, attack his Marauding Captain." As the warrior was destroyed by holy light she continued. "I'd have preferred to attack your Mataza, but Marauding Captain prevents that. I'll set a monster and end my turn."

Her opponent drew and immediately played the card he had drawn. "I tribute Mataza to summon Freed the Matchless General (2300/1700). Let me give you the low down on Freed's abilities. He isn't affected by targeting spell cards, and once a turn by skipping my draw phase, I can add a four star or below warrior to my hand. Freed will attack your Agent of Creation." Cool, calculating, Freed drew a sword, and skewered the angel just as if he had been hitting a cue ball in pool.

"End turn."

Aliya was disappointed at her monster's demise, but she hadn't lost hope yet. "I'll set a monster and end my turn."

Her opponent didn't draw. "I activate Freed the Matchless General's ability to add Blindly Loyal Goblin (1800/1500) to my hand. Then I will summon it directly to the field and it will attack your first face down monster." Banisher of the Light appeared and sent a beam of light at the goblin forcing it back.

Aliya: 8000

Sanchez: 4700

He narrowed his eyes. "That isn't much of a threat. I'm more worried about your face down, so that's what I'm going to attack with Freed." A gray haired woman appeared and was stabbed, but not before she had thrown a dagger at him.

Aliya: 10000

Sanchez: 3900

"You just destroyed my Lady Assailant of the Flames. By flipping her, I got to remove the top three cards of my deck from play to do 800 direct damage to you. She was removed from play do to Banisher of the Light, and all those cards getting removed from play triggered Soul Absorption."

"Your life points may be high, but you will still lose in the end. It's your turn."

"The best I can do is to summon Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer (1800/700) in attack mode. That's all."

"Again I will use Freed's ability instead of drawing. This time I will get D.D. Survivor (1800/200). Then I will summon him and have him attack Kycoo." After a brief struggle, both monsters disappeared.

Aliya: 11000

Sanchez: 3900

"They have equal attack and are both destroyed. Then Freed will destroy Banisher of the Light." The fairy tried to defend itself but failed and was skewered. "Now Blindly Loyal Goblin will attack directly before I end my turn."

Aliya: 9200

Sanchez: 3900

Just as Sanchez ended his turn, D.D. Survivor re-appeared on his field. Aliya scowled. "What's it doing back here? It was destroyed!"

Sanchez shook his head. "Yes, but it went straight from being in attack mode to being removed from play, so according to its ability, it came right back at the end of the turn."

Aliya cringed. _I need something good just about now. I have a nice little pillow of life points, but those won't keep me alive for long if I can't destroy his monsters. _She drew.

"I set a monster face down and pass the turn to you." The gangster smirked.

"In that case, you're about to go down. Again I skip my draw phase to take Legacy Hunter (1000/1500) and add it to my hand. Now I'll summon it and have it attack to destroy your face down monster." A metal box appeared and shattered.

"You just destroyed my Dimension Jar (200/200). Now we each choose three monsters to remove from each other's graveyards. You only have two and I remove both of them."

"I'll remove your Banisher of the Light, Venus, and one of the Shine Balls."

Aliya: 11700

Sanchez: 3900

"Legacy Hunter has a special ability. When it destroys a face down monster, you have to take a random card from your hand and put it back into your deck." Aliya frowned as the last card in her hand was returned to her deck.

Her opponent smiled, enjoying her discomfort "Now the rest of my monsters will attack directly."

Until now, Raoul had been having a staring match with Angus whenever he wasn't watching the duel. However, upon seeing Aliya be over-run by warriors, he cried out and ran closer to the duel station to try and see if she was ok. When he realized that this in fact made it harder to see due to the station's elevated position, he ran in the other direction up the hill until he could see down on Aliya.

"Are you alright?"

She stood up from where she'd fallen after the attack. "A bit behind on life points, but otherwise fine."

Aliya: 5800

Sanchez: 3900

She looked defiantly towards Sanchez. "Anything else you'd like to try?"

"I've got nothing. Your turn."

Aliya drew and broke a sad grin. "You don't stand a chance."

"You don't have anything that can stop me."

"Watch this. I play Chaos End."

On the field, time stopped as all the monsters on the field looked up at the vortex forming above them. Everything froze as the world went into black and white.

Raoul tried to climb the duel station when he saw Aliya pass out.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The field was frozen in time. Everything beyond the field was black and white. The warriors on the far side of the field cried out in pain as after images of them appeared in negative as they were pulled up into the void. Freed tried to throw his sword and strike Aliya. The sword was swept up in the astral maelstrom. From within Aliya there was laughter in a voice that didn't belong to her as the world fell apart.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aliya woke as Raoul shook her with one arm while holding himself onto the side of the duel station with the other.

"Wha- what happened?" Aliya said, confusedly.

"I wish I knew; you just fainted. If you're ok, you'd better get up fast; Sanchez is trying to claim the win."

"I'll be fine."

"Good. I'm not sure I can hold on to the side much longer." Raoul grinned, but she could tell he was worried. Hell, she was worried. She had no business passing out in the middle of a duel. It had never happened before. But that dream was what really frightened her. She's had strange dreams before, but the only one that came up to that level of freakiness was the one she'd had the night of the tournament…

"Are you going to get up or do you concede?" Sanchez wasn't about to let her get herself straightened out though. Aliya stood.

"I'm up, and ready to crush you. It is your turn by the way."

He drew and scowled. "I set a card face down and end my turn."

Aliya drew, and smiled that same sad smile. "I summon Agent of Force, Mars (0/0) (1900/1900). Its attack is equal to the difference in our life points when I have more and Sanctuary in the Sky is in play. The Agent will now attack directly." The fairy of destruction flew over to smite Sanchez with its hammer.

"No! I chain Offerings of the Doomed. I give up my next draw phase to destroy your monster."

"Waste of a draw phase. Mars isn't affected by spell cards."

Aliya: 5800

Sanchez: 2000

The Agent of Force (3800/3800) flew back to Aliya and she looked around, dazed and unfocused. "Your turn."

"I… I can't do anything. I end. I surrender." Aliya's eyes snapped back into focus.

"You will do no such thing. Agent of Force, destroy him!" The avenging angel flew over and swung its hammer into Sanchez's skull and the illusions faded.

Aliya: 5800

Sanchez: 0

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucien was acquitted. The opposing lawyer had been unable to find any evidence to prove that Lucien had done anything at all, let alone that it wasn't self defense. Between Mr. Kiwasaki's testimony and Mr. Beurreginsky's case Lucien had gotten off Scott free. But there was still no sign of either of his friends. Somehow the victory wasn't the same without them. He excused himself from the courtroom as quietly as possible while Adolfus talked to his parents.

After he picked up his backpack from Adolfus's office, he walked out of the building and saw some figures down at the duel station. It couldn't hurt for him to go and watch a duel, or maybe challenge someone. It wasn't until he had almost reached the duel station that he realized who was there. He broke into a run.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raoul saw Lucien coming, but as he approached, Sanchez vaulted his way out of the duel station and hit the ground running. Angus jogged slowly after him, spraying up mud. Lucien, instead of going straight to his friends went up to Sanchez's spot on the duel station as Aliya came down. He returned momentarily bearing Sanchez's deck.

"He left this." Lucien handed it to Aliya, bottom up. The bottom card was Freed the Matchless General. She handed the deck back to Lucien, hands shaking.

"No you keep it, for the team."

He smiled. "Very well, these cards are the start of our team's joint card collection. Next we'll each add in our card pools. Now I'm not sure if that's fair to me, I've been spending all my pocket money on duel monster's cards for years…" He scowled in mock seriousness. "But as long as I get to keep the prizes, I won't complain!"

They all laughed and headed back to the court house.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At home, Lucien began packing for that weekend's tournament. The plane tickets had arrived in the mail, and they were catching the red-eye flight in a few hours. He would have to pack snacks later as his mother had kicked him out of the kitchen because she was talking to relatives over the phone.

Three hours later, he was on the plane to the tournament.

Before he would get back, Rodrigo Sanchez, known to many as Sanchez would go missing.


	16. Revealing Shadows

Tournament of Souls Chapter 16

Post-Outside Tournament

"The Coke formula had been the archeological find of the century, according to the Vegans. It was lost during the Three Days and recovered only a decade or so ago. There had been lots of simicokes around, but none of them have the same effect on the Vegan metabolism as the real thing. 'Earth's second contribution to galactic culture,' one of their contemporary historians had called it." – Roger Zelazny, This Immortal 

"I'd be unstoppable if it wasn't for the law and physics." - Anonymous

The plane touched down at around 11 pm eastern standard time. Aliya, Lucien, and Raoul got off wishing that they had something other than red-eye flight tickets. The tournament which they had been attending had gone well. They hadn't won, but they'd come fairly close. There was a lot to be said about that when many of the other competitors were already widely recognized and all that they had under their belts was a region tournament. It made them wonder how many strings Mr. Dongard had to pull to get them there, and why.

As they waited for their luggage to come round, each of them thought about their deck's performance. Lucien and Aliya could think of a few small edits which could have been used to win key duels. Raoul was half asleep. All three of them had made significant changes to their decks. Lucien had used and entirely new one. For the most part, the three had decided to stick with their old decks (Lucien would be using the new deck which he had created for the state level). The lesser part that hadn't was the bit of Raoul which was currently asleep. Doubtless it would join the majority as soon as it was available. The state tournament was coming up and they wouldn't want to repeat their mistakes again there where it would count. Finally the luggage came round and they picked it up.

Then the trio met Aliya's mother just outside the airport. They had to walk quite a way to the car due in part to the design of the airport. They first had to walk from the 'foreign arrival' portion of the airport, through foreign departure section, then on through the national themed shopping section. Then there were the local arrivals and departures (the term is used loosely as it was mostly just within the country) and the local souvenirs. Never had it occurred to the ones constructing it do use anything other than a straight line. They appeared to think in one and a half dimensions.

Before you say how impossible this is, allow me to give you a closer look at the airport. Take a long rectangle. Now take one of the long lines. Cross out everything on one side of the line. What remains is what the architects seemed to see. Everything was stuffed on one side of the airport. The rest was used as storage space, and as a place for private planes. To the surprise of the architects and owners, there was a lot of space left for private planes. In the end, all the philanthropists for miles around who bothered to own private planes kept them there. It was one of the primary sources of income for the airport.

After getting in the car, it took all three other occupants to stop Raoul from setting the radio to an inordinately high volume. It was clear that there were certain things about home that he had missed. It helped that he had forgotten to pack his Walkman. Lucien pointed out that listening to rap and heavy metal at high volumes couldn't be conducive to the sleep that Raoul had been longing for not long before.

This earned him what Aliya called, "A well deserved knock over the head for paying too much attention."

Lucien had a retort ready. "Would you rather have you eardrums blasted into your brain by Raoul's music?"

"No, but that doesn't give you the right to pay attention to everything that Raoul says, does, and thinks."

"I'm not sure I want to know about everything he thinks and does."

This earned him another slap over the head from Raoul. Lucien responded indignantly. "Hey! At this rate I won't have any brain cells left when we get back to school."

Raoul chuckled. "Lucien, you have enough brain cells for all three of us. And for three more hits to the head." Raoul proceeded to deliver those hits and the backseat turned into a wrestling arena.

A few minutes later the combatants had reconciled and Raoul was dropped off. Lucien helped him carry his bags to the door, not because he needed help, but because he was afraid that Raoul would drop one of the bags by the door, open the door, and leave the bag. In his exhaustion, he would hardly be surprised. Raoul spoke before entering the house.

"Pity we didn't win the tournament."

Lucien nodded. "Yeah. We'll win next time though."

"What makes you say that?"

"I don't think we'll have a choice."

Raoul clearly wanted to ask what he meant, but his mother came to the door, greeted Lucien, and complained of the cold air that the open door was letting into the house. Being late spring, the air was warm and humid, but that was clearly beyond the point. Lucien set the bag just inside the door and went back to the car.

Next Lucien got dropped of in front of his house. The windows were dark, but that was to be expected. His mother usually went to bed around 11, so there was no reason for there to be lights on. First thing Lucien did after setting his stuff down in the hall was that he headed to the kitchen and flicked a light on. _I don't know about the other too, but I'm too hungry to sleep yet. No doubt as soon as the food touches stomach I will be out like a light. _His mother hadn't left anything out on the counter, stove, or in the microwave. He resigned himself to a yogurt and opened the fridge.

To his surprise, he found some left over chicken breast. Lucien didn't particularly like chicken, preferring the hardier red meats but decided that it was better than yogurt. He popped it in the microwave and got himself some juice. There was very little soda in the fridge, but that was for guests, and his mother's occasional whim. For one reason or another it didn't suit Lucien's tastes, mostly because it was too sweet. After he poured the beverage he added ice, not so much to keep it cold as to give himself something to do while the chicken finished being micro-waved.

A sudden beep in the otherwise silent house told him that his meal was ready. Lucien took a bite of the chicken and grimaced. Yogurt it would be. The chicken went back into the refrigerator and grabbed a yogurt. When he tossed the yogurt in the trash afterward he saw the packaging for the chicken. It was called someone or another's "Herb Roasted Chicken." _That wasn't just herb roasted. That was herb stuffed, marinated lacerated, fed, fried, baked, soaked and bred. There must have been more herb than chicken. _Nowhere could he find out exactly what herbs had been used. Or perhaps the better question would be which ones hadn't been used._ If any._

Lucien picked up his bags and started up the stairs, watching the light from the kitchen bouncing off the metal zippers on his bag and playing on the walls and floor, but never reaching the ceiling. He hoped that wouldn't be his fate; stopped from reaching his apex by physics and shadows. _Shadows… _He manipulated a zipper to reflect light up the stairs until it stopped appearing and Lucien froze. _Damn bloody hell. This can't be happening. Not here, not now. Not to me. **Why are you so suddenly exempt from all pain? Oh, and on a side note, no cursing. **I didn't say it out loud, it doesn't count. And… no reason. **It would be a good habit for me to form; not cursing even in my mind… but this isn't the time to think of that is it? **Damn straight. _

Lucien set his bags down and searched through them for his deck. It was nowhere to be found. All he could find was the deck he'd been testing. The one he planned to use for the state tournament. It was then that he realized that he'd left one bag in Aliya's car; the bag with all his cards. It contained all of his cards except for this deck.

Lucien pocketed it. Maybe it was just a pile of paper and ink, but he toted it like a six shooter. It wasn't much, but it was all he had. It was his only weapon, his only shield. And he intended to use it.

She was waiting for him as soon as he turned around the corner at the top of the stairs. She stood there, wearing a duel disk. There was another one propped up against the wall by Lucien. He had expected that much. He had expected the all enveloping darkness. He didn't expect the faces in the darkness, part human, part something else. He didn't expect to see his family hanging in the air off to the side. His mother, his step father, step brother, his only uncle, cousin, aunt, even his cat and the dog. Evidently they had all come to hold a surprise party for him without knowing the surprise that awaited them.

He put on the duel disk. There was only one thing he needed to sort out.

"Why?"

The red haired woman looked surprised. She had expected him to be afraid, shaking begging for mercy. If not that, she had expected him to be heroic, offering his own life if she let the others go free. He was neither. Then again, it was better that he would ask a philosophical question than something along the lines of "So, how's this thing going to go down?"

"Why what?" She was trying to keep her voice low, and mysterious. Lucien was scared witless without loosing his wits. It a rather important point as witless people don't ask philosophical or rhetorical questions.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Power."

This was misinterpreted by Lucien. He assumed that she meant power over other people. He thought she wanted the same power that so many criminals and human rights violators seek. He couldn't have been more wrong.

Lucien gazed sadly at his family, arrayed on the wall, seemingly asleep. "I can't let you do this."

"I'm not here for them."

"Who then?" Lucien could have guessed. He wanted to understand why. Why this woman wanted to kill all those he held dear. He was nothing special. He knew it. Why him?

"You."

"Why? You've already taken my friend's brother."

"He isn't the only one, and you've seen too much." The woman had the cool attitude of a paid killer. No emotion toward or about her job. She simply carried it out. No joy, no pleasure, and no pain were on her mind. Only some perverted sense of duty.

"Did you kill Alexandra too?"

"I don't kill. Nor do I record names."

Now Lucien was getting angry. Before he'd just been sad, lost in the past and future, but now that she was denying what she had done, his ire had been roused. "What do you mean you don't kill? Have you forgotten? I watched you."

The woman chuckled. "So naïve. They are worse than dead. Well, not necessarily worse, just different. You will see soon. Before you wonder, your family is just in… well suspended animation would be the best way to put it." She laughed further at her own joke. If the situation had been different, Lucien might have laughed too. It was his kind of humor.

"Did you take Alexandra? You would have had to duel her. She used a fairy deck."

"Ah yes. That one." The venom in her voice was nearly tangible. "The trouble soul, yes, I defeated her."

"I won't let you take everyone. I won't let you make me lose everything."

"Of course you won't. You won't be here to have lost them. I rather suspect that you'll all be in the same place at the end of this duel." Before his duel with Alicia Lucien had predicted his victory; that his current opponent did the same worried him.

"Let's get this over with. For some reason you can't do whatever it is that you want to do with my and my family until you've dueled me. I doubt you'll tell me why. Will you at least tell me your name?"

She shook her head. "Names have power in a world with Internet searches."

Lucien chuckled. "You're too smart to be doing this. Why not get a nice job as a teacher, or maybe with the government. They need intelligent people like you."

"I would be wasted on them."

"True. Now are you going to tell me how we're going to do this? Whatever these shadows you've conjured up are, I've already learned that they stop most light. And stop duel disks from working."

The woman cracked a grin. "Truth be told, these aren't real duel disks. You might notice that they are already extended. They're cheap replicas, children's toys."

"Clever, and inexpensive; you must be on a budget." Lucien was sarcastic to the point of offense. He wasn't fooling anyone. She knew he was scared. He knew he was scared. Old habits die hard.

His opposite crowed her amusement. "It's something like that. Let's get started. Just so that you know, each time you lose a thousand life points, I'll take the soul of one of your family member's."

Lucien's eyes widened in shock. "That's not fair! You know I'm going to lose more than a thousand life points. It's practically guaranteed."

"Life isn't fair and that's the way we're going to play. Or would you rather surrender? Prepare yourself for the duel of your life; and for it. You may go first."

: 8000

Lucien: 8000

As Lucien checked over his hand he wished that he had played with this deck more. It was his, yet he didn't even know half of its inner workings. Some plays were obvious though. "To start the game off, I play Meteor of Destruction to deduct 1000 life points from your total." He placed the card into the duel disk, and then tripped a switch to make it slide into the graveyard. On a real duel disk it would have been automated. A meteor had appeared over Lucien's head, and came crashing down into his opponent.

: 7000

Lucien: 8000

"Then I will set a monster face down, and another card behind it. It is your turn." The cards appeared out of the shadows between the combatants.

The woman rose smoking from where the meteor had knocked her down. "If I didn't know better I'd think you had done that on purpose. That hurt, and you will pay for it. I summon Slate Warrior." The monster appeared on the field. It looked almost as if it had just stepped sideways out of the shadows.

The woman cocked her head to the side. "Unfortunately I can't make you feel my pain just yet. Attack his face down my fiend." Slate Warrior (1900/400) sprang forward and chopped down on the blue Stealth Bird (700/1700) that had appeared out of the face down card before leaping back to its side of the field.

Lucien watched the battle in confusion. "What is making the monster's appear? I know that my house doesn't have projectors. And the duel disks do nothing. Where are they coming from?"

"Where did you think they came from? The monsters in this place are real. Did you think Pegasus pulled all of this out of his imagination? No. He had an item of power that allowed him to see such things. He modeled the game after the real creatures that dwell in this place. We call it the Shadow Realm. They call it home."

Lucien puzzled over this. It did make sense in a way. But a few things still didn't make sense. "How did you bring this Shadow Realm here? Or to the observation tower?"

The red head adopted the tone of an artist explaining her work. "That's the beauty of it. It overlaps with this world. Once it's given a reason to come, it will be there. It is attracted by misery. Originally we all had to find misery in order to harness the shadows. We've been given that power. Now we have enough power to summon it on our own. We only got that recently. Now nothing can stop us."

"I will."

"Why would you do that? Not to mention how you'd manage it. We're going to change the world. You'd fit in well among our ranks. Unfortunately, we don't need you as a duelist. You aren't quite good enough in any case. Your soul will do just fine."

"What do you mean by my soul?"

"I mean what makes you work, your life essence. Are you religious?"

"No."

"What a pity, that would make it easier to understand. Well then, do you know about how a body loses weight when it dies, even in a closed system?"

"I have heard about it. It is my belief that it is the tension in a living body that increases the weight and then leaves the body upon death."

"That's closer to the truth than most get. What leaves is the soul. What I'm about to take from you. Whoever loses a duel here also loses their soul. After I set a card, I pass the turn to you."

Lucien hardly looked over his cards as he played them. "I play Fissure. That kills the weakest monster on your field, also known as Slate Warrior." A hand reached up out of the shadows and pulled the monster down.

Lucien continued. "Next I summon Giant Orc (2200/0). I will have it attack directly. Giant Orc's effect forces it into defense mode." The fiend smashed the woman over the head with its club before falling down asleep.

: 4800

Lucien: 8000

"I end."

The woman drew. The place where she had been hit by the club was bleeding slowly. "I will play the card I just drew, Premature Burial to revive Slate Warrior. I pay 800 life points."

: 4000

Lucien: 8000

"Then I will summon Twin-Headed Wolf (1500/1000). Normally it would negate flip effects when there is another fiend on the field, but I doubt that you have many. Twin-Headed Wolf will attack Giant Orc. Slate Warrior will take care of your life points."

Lucien flipped up a card, and the air shimmered in front of Slate Warrior as it leapt forward, and it disappeared. "I activate Dimension Wall. You take damage instead of me." The woman looked back in time to see Slate Warrior bearing down on her.

: 2100

Lucien: 8000

She wiped saliva from her mouth. The monster's were clearly hurting her, and badly. "I'll just set a card before I end my turn."

Lucien drew and placed the card on the duel disk. "I play Tremendous Fire, losing 500 life points to inflict a thousand to you."

His opponent's eyes widened and one of her set cards flipped. "I chain with Magic Drain. Unless you discard another spell card, it is negated."

Lucien frowned and pressed the lever to send the card to the graveyard. "If that won't work, I'll summon Goblin Elite Attack Force (2200/1500) and have it attack Twin Headed Wolf."

Another card was flipped. "I activate Bark of Dark Ruler. When I have a fiend on my side, I may pay life points to deduct attack and defense points from your monster. I must deduct in increments of 100. So now I will sacrifice 800 of my life points, to weaken your monster." The wolf decimated the armored fighting force.

: 1300

Lucien: 7900

Lucien grimaced. "I can do nothing but end my turn."

The woman drew with a flourish. "Now it is time to show you what it feels like to truly lose. First I will sacrifice Twin-Headed Wolf to summon Dark Ruler Ha Des (2450/1600)." The lord of fiends rose from the shadows drinking a red liquid that one could only hope was wine. "Now both my monsters will attack directly."

: 1300

Lucien: 3550

Lucien knew pain. First, Slate Warrior had come bounding across the field and punched him in the stomach. His eyes popped as he felt the fist make contact, and he was knocked sprawling, the bile rising in his throat. He stood only to see Dark Ruler Ha Des reach out a hand and mutter a curse. The world around him shifted and Lucien fell to the ground.

He threw up until he was dry retching. When he looked up, half of his family was gone.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aliya looked opened the trunk to retrieve her luggage. As she and her mother each took a bag, one was left.

"Mom! Lucien left his cards behind. Shouldn't we go back and drop them off?"

Her mother looked at the bag and massaged her temples. "I don't think so dear. We will drop them off in the morning."

Aliya responded irritably. She wasn't tired yet and was looking for an excuse to stay up just a little later. She sighed. "Alright. He won't need them tonight anyhow."


	17. Destruction Sequence

Tournament of Souls Chapter 17

Shadow Duel

"We do not consider ourselves heretics." Roger Zelazny, This Immortal 

"If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl. If you can't crawl, run." – A motto of Lucien's

Lucien looked to the side of the field where half of his family remained. His mother, his uncle, his dog, and his former step brother had all disappeared. Only his aunt, former step dad, cousin, and cat remained. He tried to rationalize; with eerie success. _I've never gotten along with my uncle. My dog was a demon in disguise judging from her behavior. My step brother hardly acknowledged my existence. My mother… she wouldn't want me to mourn her too long. Who am I kidding? She'd want me to mourn. She'd hate me if I didn't, but I just don't have the time right now though. _

His chances of winning the duel and keeping his life weren't looking too good. His opponent had two strong monsters on her side, and he had none. He was ahead in life points, but that wouldn't last long. His deck wasn't made to endure a beating like this. The entire point of the deck was for each card to do at least 1000 damage during its life span, or allow a direct attack for 2000 or more to take place. And it had worked up to a point. He still had a fighting chance though. If he could draw the right cards, he could win this.

Lucien drew and maintained a poker face. "I summon Solar Flare Dragon (1500/1000). At the end of my turn, you take 500 points of direct damage."

: 800

Lucien: 3550

The woman drew and smiled, slowly and cruelly. "I play Soul Exchange. This allows me to tribute your monster for one of mine at the cost of my battle phase. Now, I summon Mefist, The Infernal General (1800/1700). I have to end my turn there."

Lucien was seriously worried. He had only the one card in his hand and the card that he had just drawn. If this didn't work he was finished.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aliya snuck out of her bedroom clothed in jeans and a t-shirt. She crept down the hallway in socks holding her shoes in one hand. When she came to the front door, she grabbed the backpack that held Lucien's cards. She heard the stairs creak and hid in the hall closet. She heard her father humming to himself as he walked into the kitchen. Aliya sunk down to the floor of the closet and prepared herself for a long wait. _At least I know who's been eating all the marshmallows._

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Lucien breathed deeply and made his move. "I play Lightning Vortex. All face up monsters on your side of the field are destroyed. I discard the last card from my hand to activate it." Lightning struck the field, starting with the point of Mefist's axe, and traveling down it like a lightning rod, and then traveling along the ground until nothing was left.

Lucien looked towards his family. "I can do nothing else."

The woman drew her card and looked over her hand. Then she smiled. Lucien felt his heart drop. She began setting cards down with the care and precision of a surgeon. "First I will set a monster, and another card. Then I will play the continuous spell card _License to Torment_."

Lucien's brow creased in a scowl. "I've never heard of the card. What does it do?"

The sanguine haired woman's eyes took on a dangerous aspect. "This spell card causes all fiends on my side of the field to be unaffected by trap cards. As if that wasn't enough power, battle damage with fiend type monsters being attacked is halved. Not as useful an ability as the first, but not to be scoffed at either. Unfortunately, that part of the effect extends to both of us."

_I've never heard of such a card. How can I be sure that it isn't an elaborate fake? It is certainly powerful enough to warrant faking. _He voiced his concerns. "How did you get a card so rare that I haven't heard of it?"

"There are benefits to being in a position of power. Sometimes my opponents will have valuable cards which I will have them ante in our duel. I never lose these games. If I can find a use for the card, I will use it. If not, I know others who would gladly take the cards. This one was given to me by someone returning the favor. I end my turn by the way.

Lucien drew glad to have avoided a direct attack. His draw was a fortunate one, one that could win him the game. "I summon Solar Flare Dragon (1500/1000). It will attack your face down monster." The beast let loose a searing flame that destroyed the face down imp.

"You just destroyed my Spear Cretin. Its special ability allows us each to special summon a monster from our graveyards to the field, either in attack mode or face down. I will retrieve Mefist. I would love to bring back my Dark Ruler, but it cannot be special summoned from the graveyard." The dark knight reappeared on the field.

Lucien grinned. "You know not what you have done. I summon my original Solar Flare Dragon. At the end of this turn you die. Even so, you wouldn't have been able to attack."

His opponent grinned maliciously. "Did you think that I had no reason for playing License to Torture last turn? You were wrong. I activate Torrential Tribute!" A wave of water came over the field, covering all the monsters. The tide ebbed and only Mefist the Infernal General was left standing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A chair scraped back in the kitchen. Aliya held back a sigh of relief. How embarrassing it would be to be caught now! Not to mention infuriating. She hadn't just spent all that time in the closet for nothing. She waited for the sounds of her father's foot steps going back up the stairs, and the closing of the bedroom door.

Only then did she heave a sigh of relief. Practically falling out of the closet she got up and stretched. It was cramped in there and one of Lucien's binders had been poking into her arm through the backpack.

"Note to self: never hide in a closet unless there is absolutely no other way. When hiding in a closet one must wear padding."

Ignoring the fact that both of her parents were in their room and in all likelihood asleep, Aliya snuck as quietly as she could to the inside door of the garage. She then tried to move the boxes and the old water guns, pogo sticks, and other unused paraphernalia without putting anything on or in the way of the car. After a few minutes of rather noisy, start and stop flurries of activity, her bike was revealed. She patted the seat and dust puffed into the air.

She grimaced. Just because she hadn't ridden her bike in awhile didn't give it the right to collect dust. She opened the garage door and rolled the bike out. She sat down on the bumper of her father's car and put on the shoes which she had set aside to move junk. She considered going out without a helmet, but decided that she would rather get caught with a helmet than without one. On that note she looked around the ill-organized garage until she found a reflector and attached it to the back of the bike. Wearing a helmet was standard, but here was an extra precaution that she could show her parents. She wasn't going to get caught of course, but it was always good to be cautious. Plus, she might just get caught.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The red head started her turn without a signal from Lucien. He had no cards, no potential moves. She looked at her cards and cursed under her breath. Lucien smirked. That at least meant that she held nothing that could kill him this turn. Then she looked towards his family and it was his turn to be worried. _I can't afford calculated risk. I can't afford reasonable losses. Lives are at stake. Lives have already been lost…_

Lucien's current opponent wasn't of the 'give them time to torture themselves' breed. She preferred the hands on approach. "I summon Skull Knight #2 (1000/1200). Both my monsters will attack your life points directly." As the monsters struck Lucien down she continued unwavering. "It's a pity that you don't have any card to lose. Normally Mefist would cost you one."

: 800

Lucien: 750

Three more relatives disappeared until only his former step dad remained. All of their deaths hurt, but for some reason, it was the cat's disappearance that most shook him. That such an innocent creature could be punished like that angered him beyond anything else. Perhaps, he thought, it was because it was only now that he had the chance to be angry. Historically cat's can be replaced. When a relative dies, or even if they are murdered, you are sad first. You have lost something irreplaceable. With a pet, you can be angry. You hold the funeral in the backyard, after you file the law suit, or yell at the guy on the lawn mower in front of the body.

Lucien had come to a realization. He couldn't win this. Anything he could do his opponent could stop. Sure there were a few cards in his deck that would win him the game. He wouldn't draw them. And while one or two would give him a win unconditionally, the rest could be stopped by smart playing.

His opponent hardly had time to end her turn before he took the top card off his deck. "I summon Giant Orc (2200/0) and end my turn." All he could to was set up an offensive wall. Where were the odds now? Statistically he should have drawn something to kill her. Yet the cards wouldn't come to him in a deck that was designed to do well in this type of situation.

He could have won if it wasn't for that thrice cursed spell card. License to Torment's second ability made it so an attack from Giant Orc to Skull Knight #2 wouldn't do enough damage to defeat her. Yet with Mefist the Infernal General's ability to do damage through defense, even with the halving due to Giant Orc being a fiend, would be enough to set Lucien on the fast track to death, doom, and destruction. And if he attacked Mefist, Skull Knight #2 or a weaker monster would be able to clear his field while the other attacked for the game.

His opponent drew and was disappointed. Evidently the odds weren't with her either. Assuming that she possessed the usual assortment of fiends, she had a good number of cards that could win her the game. Lucien took desperate pleasure in the odds defiance of his opponent as well as of himself.

She glared at him through shadows that writhed in anger. "I set card face down and end my turn."

_I can't win this…_

"I mimic your move, setting a card and passing the turn to you." He was doing his best to remain impassive. The worst thing that could happen here was for her to see through his move; to see the fear.

_I can't afford to lose…_

She mocked him as she drew. "Ah, going suave in our old age are we? This is as old as you're going to get you know; right down to the minute. 'I mimic your move.'" She imitated him. She knew his fear.

_If I can't win I'll lose it all._

The nemesis placed her card. "I summon Winged Minion (700/700) to the field and use its special ability to sacrifice itself to increase the power of Mefist the Infernal General (2500/2400). Now that it is strong enough to get past your hulking excuse for a fiend, it will attack so that my Skull Knight may destroy you and bring me victory!" The demon knight rode forth and raised its axe to destroy his last defense.

_If I cannot win, then neither shall she. _

A ring appeared around one of Giant Orc's biceps. "I activate Destruction Ring, sacrificing my monster and dealing both of us 1000 damage."

: 0

Lucien: 0

The resulting explosion sent the world up in flames.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aliya was getting annoyed. She had made a wrong turn somewhere and had spent no small amount of time getting back on track. She was still around a mile from Lucien's house when she heard the explosion.

It rang out across the roof tops. It ran through the streets on the feet of the night. Aliya skidded to a stop and listened. No further sound was to be heard. No lights turned on, no shutters were opened. A few years ago sound proof windows had been designed. While it prevented being woken by bird song on a Spring morning, it also prevented being woken by random cataclysmic explosions. There was no sign of the noise other then the translucent veil of smoke draped from the stars rising upward.

Aliya biked onward with new urgency.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A solitary figure stumbled out of the flames. Somewhere a late night traveler turned on the engine and motored out onto a street. The figure paused panting and ripped off the duel disk that it wore, pocketing the cards. It tossed the disk back into the flames and stared at the figures it saw there. It stared for almost a full minute before stumbling away and breaking into a run.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aliya turned the corner a block away from Lucien's house and saw the fire. At the same moment, a figure ran into her knocking both of them over along with the bike. As it scrambled up, she saw its face and recognized it.

"Lucien!"

He looked at her, his eyes wide and unrecognizing. He fled down another street before she could get back on her bike and had disappeared into the darkness before she had the chance to mount a guided pursuit. She peddled hard and caught sight of Lucien. No matter how she yelled his name. No matter how she tried to comfort him, or convince him to stop he kept running. His breathing grew ragged yet he ran on.

In the end she herded him like an animal. When he tried to take the wrong street she would peddle ahead and make him turn the way she wanted. She didn't understand where his stamina was coming from. He fell. He ran on. He dry retched as he ran, unable to regurgitate what was long gone. After what seemed like hours she finally got him to her front door. When he came to the driveway she got off the bike and grabbed his arm. She left the bike dropped in the driveway.

Aliya opened the door. In this class neighborhood very few locked their doors. She led Lucien inside and resisted the urge to find something to tether him with. He seemed to have calmed down some. He hadn't tried to run since she'd established a grip on his arm. After a moment's thought, she led him to the couch and had him lie down. With luck he would fall asleep. That would help her case with her parents. It was harder to order someone out of the house when they were already asleep.

She headed upstairs and knocked on the door to her parents' room; no response. Waking them up in the middle of the night wasn't going to help her case any. She opened the door.

Ten minutes later, she had entirely convinced them. Do to the tragedy they were ignoring the fact that she had snuck out in the middle of the night. Plus, Lucien was asleep. They were planning to take him to a hospital in the morning. He looked as if he may have suffered some burns and was a bit bruised.

Her parents didn't get the chance to gush on about how sorry they were. Those asleep are not known for their hearing. They instead instructed Aliya how to treat him when he woke up. There was no question about him going to school. It wasn't going to happen. The principle would understand that a boy who has just lost his family isn't in the best condition to learn.

They left him there on the couch and they all went back to bed. As an afterthought Aliya left the backpack with his cards next to the couch. She went to bed wondering. _What happened to him?_

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucien woke a couple of hours later wondering where he was. He was on a couch, and someone had covered him with a quilt. After looking around he began to recognize his surroundings. Then he realized that he was at Aliya's house. Next his confused and shocked mind tried to figure out what had happened. His mind flashed back to what had just happened.

**The ring exploded. Their life points plummeted to zero. He watched the closest thing to a father he had ever had disappear into the shadows and the flames. The red haired woman was gone. Even as the shadows faded the flames remained, burning everything.**

He remembered the fire, the duel, the loss. _It was a draw. That's why I'm still alive. The duel was tied. _She would be back. He knew it. He couldn't just lie around waiting for it to happen. She was going to come for him. He needed to get her first. He took the quilt off and folded it as neatly as he could before placing it on the couch. He slipped his deck from his pocket into the backpack at his feet and put it on.

He walked out the front door and into the warm night. He didn't know where he was going. He didn't know why. Only that he couldn't bring retribution upon his friend. If she was going to come for him, she wasn't going to hurt anyone he cared about. He needed to get away. Lucien broke into a fast walk.

He tired fast. He was exhausted and the places where he had been hit during the duel hurt. He sped up the pace. He sought to escape his pain in exhaustion. He ran out of the residential area and into the city. Aliya's area let out into the 'fat district' and Lucien found himself following the path that had taken him part of the way home after the tournament. The tournament that had made him the regions champion.

He reached the poorer area across from the courthouse. He was tiring fast. His muscles ached with fatigue. The sun had long ago begun to peak out over the sky line. It was Monday morning and his mind was far from ready for school. For the most part his thought processes had shut down. They had only enough in them to connect a few dots. _My family is dead. I am an orphan. There is an orphanage. They have to take me. _

Having no idea what he would find, Lucien knocked on the door of the residential house that served as the orphanage. Later he would note that it was approximately twice the size of the normal house, though it had no space that it did not require. A tired looking woman opened the door. She couldn't have been past her early thirties yet she seemed older.

"Yes?"

Lucien did his best to come out with a succinct response. How is one supposed to go about explaining that they have just been orphaned and are looking for a place to stay? Evidently it is done by saying just that.

"My family…dead…fire. Can I, that is, do you, can you take me?" His words made little sense, and were arranged according to no known laws of grammar or order. Somehow the tired woman understood and her eyes softened.

"You poor dear, come in. You look like you've just come out of the fire yourself." Which of course, he had; but this can be ignored for the moment. The door opened into a kitchen where there were several people about Lucien's age. When he saw them he knew exhaustion was over coming him. Not only was everything blurry around the edges, but some of the girls in the room had blue hair, and others had green. Or was there only one? Lucien couldn't tell, the world was spinning, boys with white hair, red hair, the tired woman, and another taller one. A slightly squatter girl with brown hair walked into the room and gasped.

Lucien picked this opportune moment to collapse. He remained semi-conscious as the red haired one that was in fact a girl and the tired woman in her thirties half carried him to an empty room and placed him onto a bed.

He dreamed of shadows and fiends. On the stage of his mind, the two dreams battled. The shadows won and consumed his dreams.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Note: Yes, that was an original card. There will be more never fear. They will not come overly often for awhile yet. Nor will they be announced.

Editor's Note: Green, blue, white, purple, orange, and just about any color hair were not unheard of, merely uncommon. Just as red hair was fairly uncommon before around 2010 unless you lived in certain areas, so was other colored hair in the current day. It was estimated that approximately three in every two hundred thousand had a 'rare' hair color.

License to Torment

Continuous Spell

As long as this card face up on the field, all battle damage caused in a battle involving a fiend monster that the controller of this card controls is halved. In addition all fiends are unaffected by trap cards.

The image is of a driver's license, the head shot is of Goblin of Greed winking and it says 'Torment' along the top.


	18. Magnetic Distraction

Tournament of Souls Chapter 18

State Level Tournament

"Silence is golden; duct tape is silver." Anonymous

"I'm seventeen and I'm crazy. My uncle says the two always go together. When people ask your age, he said, always say seventeen and insane." – Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

"'Bet I know something else you don't. There's dew on the grass in the morning.'

He suddenly couldn't remember if he had known this or not, and it made him quite irritable.

'And if you look-' she nodded at the sky – 'there's a man in the moon.'

He hadn't looked for a long time." - Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Editor's Note: In case you haven't noticed yet, the companion story to Tournament of Souls has been posted. It is entitled Shadows of the Small. We would recommend reading it. It ties up several loose ends and fleshes out some characters that you would otherwise rarely meet. Very interesting characters too. Read it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After school on Friday Lucien was waiting. He stood outside the doors of the school as Aliya walked out. She didn't know how to react. Lucien hadn't been at school all week. He hadn't contacted anyone, though the school officials must have known something as they never commented. There had been no announcement, no request for the prayers of the student body. Lucien had disappeared.

Now he was back, and Aliya wanted to know why. She wanted to know if he was alright. More importantly she wanted to know why the hell he had run away. Her parents had told her that he was in shock and that he wasn't thinking straight.

Aliya couldn't accept this. One of Lucien's defining characteristics was thinking straight and keeping a cool head no matter what. When he didn't, the best description was that of one of the class clown's. "We're all going to die!" That just about summed it up.

Lucien remained off to the side of the bricks and pavement that made up the school yard. He clearly expected her to come to him. Aliya had taken running away as a direct insult, and there was no way she was about to make this easy for him. She walked straight down towards the street, ignoring Lucien. He gave in and met her next to the road.

Somewhat mollified, she started the conversation.

"So?"

"Are you ready for the state round?" Lucien acted as if he had been attending school and was talking about the weather.

"Always. You?"

"My deck is improved. Hopefully it will do. All I need is transportation. I might be able to get some, but no guarantees."

"Mom plans to drive all three of us."

"Good. I'll be seeing you tomorrow at your house then? How's seven thirty?" Lucien looked down the street and saw his bus stopped a few street lights down. He wasn't going to go until Aliya had tried one last jab however.

"Today's my birthday you know."

"I know."

"Well?"

Lucien took off to catch the bus before it went by.

When Aliya arrived home there was a package waiting for her. The card was signed by Lucien and the package contained glass hair clips with duel monsters on them. They included some of her favorites: Fire Princess, Spirit of the Breeze, and Aqua Spirit. There was even a long one to braid into her hair that was designed to look like Solar Flare Dragon.

In one of his usual bursts of thoughtlessness, he had forgotten to remove the price tags. It came to just under $50.

Aliya wasn't sure whether she wanted to kill Lucien or give him a hug. Seeing as he wasn't present, neither was easily accomplished.

The phone rang and Aliya went to pick it up. When she heard what the person on the other end had to say she frowned slightly. Some of her friends from school were going to come and watch the State Championship. That increased the pressure; now if she messed up the entire school would know.

It didn't help any that she hadn't told them about the side event. Any duelist who thought they had the potential to be a professional, or just had an exciting deck could try out to become and entertainer for the National Championship. Someone with that position would not only be watching all the duels, but would have the chance to win rare cards, get paid, and meet any stars who might have been hired as entertainment. Evidently some kind of survey had been taken a while before that showed that people who dueled liked watching dueling as entertainment.

_They shouldn't have needed a survey to know that. _

Regardless, it was just the kind of thing some of her friends who dueled would want to try. None of them would make it, but that wouldn't stop them. They would be angry at her if they found out. Luckily they wouldn't be able to make fools of themselves; it took someone who had made the State Championship vouching for someone to even get them considered.

_I'll cross that bridge when I come to it._

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The tournament was to take place in the capital of the state; Annapolis. Lucien had been waiting for Aliya and her mother on the side walk in front of herhouse at seven thirty sharp. Aliya had decided to forgive Lucien and wore the new hair clips. He appreciated it even though he gave no outward sign of noticing. Raoul arrived late, as usual.

Normally quiet, it seemed that now Lucien only communicated by tacit agreement. He had yet to tell Aliya or Raoul what had actually happened. He wasn't even sure he wanted to. It would have to be done sometime; there was no doubt about that. Just as long as sometime never became soon, and soon never became now.

They arrived at City Hall (circa 2012) just in time for the opening ceremonies. They were boring and uneventful. It was explained that they would be using duel stations located at such and such an address (indoors unfortunately) and that they would be expected to be there at such and such a time as soon as they had met with their area supervisors. Lucien took this to mean Mr. Dongard and headed off to the corner where said businessman was waiting.

As usual, Mr. Dongard got straight to business. "As of yet, yours is the only team without a name. The team name is supposed to be that of the sponsoring store. Unfortunately, Mr. Kiwasaki has neglected to tell us the name of his store. Would one of you care to tell me what it is?"

Lucien exchanged glances with his teammates. None of them had ever thought about what the store's name was. They had always referred to it as 'the card store' or 'Mr. Kiwasaki's store.' They realized that it must have a name for taxes and such, but they couldn't think of ever having heard a name. Lucien turned back to Mr. Dongard to try and explain.

"I don't think it has a name."

The man raised an eyebrow and started gesticulating with one hand. "It must have a name, for taxes and such."

"Well, I'm sure that it does have a name, it's just not publicized."

"In that case you'll have to come up with a name."

Raoul was the first to think of something. "How about Kiwasaki's Cards?"

Aliya shot it down with a sarcastic suggestion of her own. "Yeah, or we could always call it Card Players Anonymous."

Lucien thought silently as his two friends suggested increasingly ridiculous things. The incredulity of any given idea could be measured by seeing how high Mr. Dongard's eyebrow was raised. Finally Lucien spoke.

"The Card Shop." Raoul and Aliya turned simultaneously.

"What?"

"We should call it The Card Shop. It's original, and it's what we've always called it."

Mr. Dongard seized upon the opportunity. "The Card Shop it is then. A few things that the speaker neglected to mention: first of all, multiplayer duels may happen. For instance if there is a draw, meaning that there has been a win, a loss, and a tie for each side the final outcome will be decided by a two on two duel. Multiplayer duels may be decided at other times as well. Secondly, did any of you invite people for the side event?" He looked meaningfully at Lucien, who responded.

"Yes, I invited several people. They have a letter of recommendation, signed by me. They should be arriving within the hour."

Mr. Dongard nodded. "Anyone else?"

Raoul scratched his head. "Well, I have a friend who said he might come and do it."

"Have you given him any written accommodation?"

Raoul looked puzzled. "What?"

Lucien intervened. "Did you give him a letter so that the officials know that he's been sponsored?"

"Well, no. He might not come."

Lucien closed his eyes in irritation, but Mr. Dongard was the one to reply. "In that case he may not participate."

Raoul considered arguing. Then he realized that he was outnumbered and overmatched. And so he recognized defeat and led the group to the car which in turn took them to the tournament location. Lucien saw a car drive up and excused himself saying that he had to attend to his advisees. The rest could only take this to mean the ones that he had sponsored to try out for the traveling entertainer gig, whoever they might be. Truth be told, his teammates were almost glad for a brief respite. He was being rather more irritable than usual.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucien re-appeared just in time for the announcement of which team was going to be facing them. It looked like they were up against a team from a city in an area near D.C. They didn't look too tough: a couple of affluent upstarts who happened to be able to duel. He looked at his team and realized that they were just an affluent girl, an upper middle class boy, and another of the lower middle class, but upstarts all. _Everyone's a newbie at this point. _

They had two girls and a boy, the flip side of The Card Shop's combination. Soon a judge appeared and called out to the teams, and the audience at large.

"Will the team captains please come forward?" While he tried to imitate the famous judges on television, with wild and abrupt hand movements, the performance seemed lackluster. Probably because he kept looking around to make sure he was doing everything right. And even when he gave orders, they sounded like questions. _Fun, a judge with low confidence; this way if he makes a ruling I don't like I can get him to change it by arguing. _

Lucien came up to the judges platform and met the team captain of the other team; a tall girl with short brown hair. He spoke first.

"How do you want to do this? I'm going to send up Aliya and then Raoul. If you haven't been defeated twice by then I'll duel."

The girl tried to look confident, and sub-consciously raised her chin and stuck out her chest. "Thank you for the information. All we have to do up here is shake hands. I'm not going to complain." Well, maybe it wasn't all feigned confidence. _Well, that was stupid of me. Then again, what I said isn't binding… but no. I can beat them without going against what I said. I'm not going to be marked as a liar._

Lucien smiled falsely and shook her hand. "You're going to need all the help you can get." They both walked down and sat on the benches next to the ring. To Raoul's delight there was a cooler of drinks and snacks under the bench, clearly meant for their enjoyment. He grabbed a soda.

Lucien nodded towards Aliya and she took her place in the duel station and inserted their decks. Aliya's gem turned rainbow as her opponent's (it was the only boy on the opposing team), revealed a plus/minus symbol in red and blue on slate. _Wonder what that means. We'll find out soon enough._

The judge looked around and raised a hand up. "Match one between The Card Shop and Infinity and Beyond begins now." _Amazing, it wasn't a question. _

The spinner appeared and landed on the plus/minus sign. The boy drew his sixth card and the duel began. The scores appeared on the board as:

The Card Shop 2nd Lieutenant: 8000

Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 8000

The boy started setting cards down. "I set one monster and two cards. Your turn." He had his captain's confidence without the posturing. Instead it was fluid, alternating between surety and confusion. Aliya took up her cards and examined the field.

"I summon Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer (1800/200) and attack your face down monster."

Her opponent responded. "Chain Rock Bombardment."

Aliya winced. She should have known that he would have something to stop her attack if he had two cards down. "What does it do exactly?"

"It causes me to send a Rock type monster from my deck to the graveyard and you to take 500 damage. I choose Alpha the Magnet Warrior (1400/1700)."

The Card Shop 2nd Lieutenant: 7500

Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 8000

Kycoo sent forth a slip of paper with symbols inscribed on it that landed on the face down monster; revealed to be Gamma the Magnet Warrior (1500/1800). Aliya sighed when the attack failed to go through.

"I end my turn after setting a card."

Her opponent was about to go on a roll, one could tell by the look upon his face. Lucien took one sweeping look over the field and scowled. Aliya had better have something to combat her opponent's next move or she would be put at a disadvantage very early in the game. The turn started as her opponent flipped a card.

"I activate Call of the Haunted to revive my Alpha the Magnet Warrior (1400/1700). Next I will summon Beta the Magnet Warrior (1700/1600)." Aliya looked clueless. As far as Lucien could tell she had no idea what was coming. Her opponent waited for some reaction. He got none and proceeded with increased momentum.

"Next I will tribute all three magnet warriors for the might Valkyrion the Magna Warrior (3500/3850)!" The three monsters combined together to create a monstrosity that was over twice the height of Aliya's monster. The crowd cheered and Aliya leapt into action. Only Lucien noted that Call of the Haunted remained on the field.

"I activate Bottomless Trap Hole sending your monster well out of play." A pit opened beneath Valkyrion and it fell as if in slow motion, inexorably pulled by forces beyond its control. Lucien nodded. Evidently Aliya was a better actor than he had given her credit for. He watched with interest as Mr. Dongard irritably walked to the room that controlled the displays.

The boy watched his great warrior fall with dismay but soon recovered. "You may have stopped it, but I'm far from done. Take your turn."

"Gladly. I'll start off by summoning Banisher of the Light (100/2000) in attack mode. Then I'll play the field spell Sanctuary in the Sky." The sanctuary rose up out of the field, stopping as the roof touched the feet of the monsters. "Now I will set one card and attack with both my monsters." Kycoo sent forth another enchanted slip of paper while Banisher of the Light sent forth a thin stream of light.

It looked like Mr. Dongard had been successful in convincing the operators of the display board. The spectators could see them changing as the old lettering was deleted and the new typed in.

Aliya Renon: 7500

Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 6100

The boy staggered and Lucien narrowed his eyes. Maybe not all of the others had their opportunity to duel with the holograms before hand. Why should his team have been given an advantage? Chance, surely. But it wasn't like chance to side with them.

Aliya's opponent regained his balance and stood up straighter than before. This time there was visible conscious effort. "Is that all you can do?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry, it won't last much longer. Kycoo's effect states that I may remove two cards from your graveyard when it inflicts battle damage. I'm going to select Beta and Gamma. Then I will set a card face down and end my turn."

He looked at his hand, examining each card before making a decision. It looked like he was being forced to make a difficult choice. "I will set one monster face down and end my turn."

Aliya knew an opportunity when she saw one. A single face down monster was easy game. "First I switch Banisher of the Light into defense mode. Then I will summon Dark Catapulter (1000/1500) in attack mode. Then Kycoo will attack your face down monster." The enchanted slip of paper disintegrated as it met with the stone face of Statue of the Aztecs (300/2000)."

The boy cleaned his finger nails idly, secure in his position once again. "My monster's ability makes you take double damage."

Aliya Renon: 7100

Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 6100

Aliya bit her lip. This wasn't part of the plan. "I end my turn."

"Excellent! Now I'm just going to set this monster face down and end my turn."

Aliya's patience was running short. This waiting game didn't suit her. She wanted action. "I switch Dark Catapulter into defense mode and play Soul Absorption. Kycoo, attack the set monster." It appeared to reveal Alpha the Magnet Warrior (1400/1700) which was destroyed and removed from play. Soul Absorption increased Aliya's life points.

Aliya Renon: 7600

Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 6100

"End turn."

The boy looked at the card he'd just drawn and paused. Lucien had come to the conclusion that he was a slow thinker. Then the boy finally made a move; an inconclusive one, but a move none the less. "I'll set a card and another monster. End turn."

Lucien glared at Raoul as he noisily ate one of the snack bars from under the bench.

Aliya started her turn. "During my standby phase Dark Catapulter gets a counter because it's in defense mode. First I summon Fire Princess (1300/1500). Then I will remove the counter from Dark Catapulter and remove Bottomless Trap Hole from play to destroy your set card." The card flipped up and the boy tried his hand at making dramatic gesticulations.

"I chain the card, another Rock Bombardment. I will take Gamma the Magnet Warrior and add it to my graveyard. Unfortunately it is removed from play due to your monster. You take 500 damage."

Aliya nodded.

"And Fire Princess causes you to take damage when I gain life points. I gain 1500 from Soul Absorption. That's going to put quite the swing in place."

Aliya Renon: 8600

Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 4600

Aliya's opponent staggered as flames covered him. Aliya did her best to ignore his plight. "Now I must end my turn as I don't have anything stronger than Stone Statue of the Aztecs; yet."

The boy started grinning. "I summon Beta the Magnet Warrior (1700/1600) and attack your Dark Catapulter." A flare of sparks and Dark Catapulter was no more. Their life points shifted in accordance with Aliya's combo.

Aliya Renon: 9100

Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 4100

"Then I set a card face down. Your turn." The boy finished off, still grinning madly.

Aliya was puzzled but went ahead with her turn. "I will have Kycoo attack Beta the Magnet Warrior. I will have its effect remove Alpha from your graveyard. That is all."

Aliya Renon: 10100

Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 3000

The boy was still grinning. "I will now activate my trap; Return from the Different Dimension. I give up half my life points to special summon my monster cards that have been removed from play. Now, return Valkyrion and a full set of my magnet warriors."

Aliya Renon: 10600

Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 1000

"Now I will sacrifice- no. That's what you would want me to do. Your little combo there would finish me off. So instead I will have Valkyrion attack Banisher of the Light. Then Beta will attack Fire Princess. Now I will make sure that my monsters stay on the field. Normally Return from the Different Dimension would make them all go back out of play. But now I will sacrifice all three magnet warriors for Valkyrion the Magna Warrior (3500/3850) and by my first Valkyrion's ability I will sacrifice it to return Alpha the Magnet Warrior (1400/1700), Beta the Magnet Warrior (1700/1600), and Gamma the Magnet Warrior (1500/1800) to the field. Now I end my turn."

Aliya's eyes were wide. There was an entire field full of monsters she couldn't do anything to stop. Well, no, that wasn't true. She could defeat any one of the magnet warriors but then Valkyrion would come down hard on Kycoo and her life points.

"I will switch Kycoo to defense mode and set a card. End turn."

The boy whipped the top card off his deck. "I sacrifice Stone Statue of the Aztecs for Granmarg the Rock Monarch (2400/1000). Its ability lets me destroy one face down card on the field, so I destroy your set card." Draining Shield was smashed by a flying rock and removed from the field.

Lucien could tell that Aliya was getting scared. _Whoever invented Rock and Roll may have met this kid. He uses rocks and he is on a roll. I just hope Aliya gets something to stop him soon. _The boy continued. "Now Alpha will destroy Kycoo and the rest of my monsters will attack directly for 9100 damage!"

Aliya Renon: 1500

Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 1000

Shakily, Aliya made her move. "I summon my second Banisher of the Light (100/2000) and equip him with Heart of Clear Water. I end my turn."

The boy scowled. "I know what you're trying to pull. Heart of Clear Water means that your monster can't be destroyed if it has less than 1300 attack points; you forget that I will still do battle damage. Valkyrion, attack her monster and end this." Valkyrion the Magna Warrior brought down its sword; and nothing happened. Aliya's opponent was furious. "What!"

She gestured around them. "Banisher of the Light is a fairy and my Sanctuary in the Sky prevents me from taking battle damage in a battle involving a fairy. Or did you forget about my field card?" Evidently he had as he scowled angrily.

"It's your turn."

Aliya drew her card and spoke, "I can't do anything. It's your move."

He drew as well. "I'm in a similar state, though not for long. I set a card and end my turn."

As soon as Aliya had drawn he flipped his card, interrupting her turn. "Now it is time for me to seize victory. I activate Dust Tornado and wipe your Sanctuary in the Sky from the field!" A whirl wind swept through the field until it had been returned to its normal state.

Aliya Renon: 2500

Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 1000

Aliya's eyes widened. Her hand shook. Lucien was getting really worried now. _Well, that only erases about half her options. Regardless it is still possible. Barely. _Before he could further analyze the odds of her loosing the duel, she had started her move. "I play Soul Release to remove all five cards in my graveyard from play."

Aliya Renon: 5500

Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 1000

"Then I will play this card; Chaos Greed. It has the most difficult requirements to play of any card in my deck. First I must have at least four cards removed from play. Second I am allowed to have none in my graveyard. If I can meet these, I am allowed to draw two cards." A red cloaked woman appeared on the field. Aliya flinched. The woman became surrounded by chaotic energies of all colors until the storm of chaos subsided and all that was left were two glowing cards. They disappeared as Aliya drew. She closed her eyes as and steadied herself as if she was dizzy.

Raoul had told Lucien about what had happened during Aliya's duel against Sanchez. While Lucien's face showed nothing, his hands were clenched, one over the other, so hard that his knuckles had gone white.

Her opponent had been intimidated by the special effects but tried not to show it. "You can't possibly have drawn anything that can stop me."

Aliya opened her eyes.

"On the contrary; I just did. First, I will tribute Banisher of the Light for The Agent of Judgment – Saturn. Then I will play the other card I just drew; another Sanctuary in the Sky."

The boy stared at the violet fairy in disbelief. "No!"

"Yes. Saturn, use your ability, Light of Judgment!" A searing light issued forth from The Agent of Judgment and hit Aliya's opponent head on. The difference between their life points was more than enough to finish him off.

Aliya Renon: 5500

Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 0

The judge set down his iced tea and stood up. "The winner of the duel is The Card Shop. Will each team please present their next duelist?" _There he goes, questioning things again._

Raoul slapped Aliya on the back as she got down from the duel station making her stumble slightly. Lucien settled her down and got her a bottle of water from the cooler, quietly nodding with a soft smile. He didn't have much time to congratulate her as his attention was needed on Raoul. The next duel was about to start.

And it was going to be a big one. Infinity and Beyond's captain had reprimanded her team mate and was walking up to the duel station herself. Lucien hoped Raoul would win.

Lucien had changed his deck since he had lost everything. That didn't mean he was completely sure of the changes. He had almost reverted back to the one that won him the Regional but decided against it. He just had a gut feeling that the same luck that had allowed his final victory might not stick with him here. _And gut feelings are always right, right? _

_**I wish I knew. **_


	19. Ritual Occurrence

Tournament of Souls Chapter 19

State Round

The Card Shop vs. Infinity and Beyond

"Life is a risk." – Diane Von Furstenberg

"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do." Henry Ford

Editor's Note: Questionable placement of spell during resolution within. It is on purpose. If the author ever contradicts that non-equip/continuous/field spell cards spend practically no time on the board and are in fact in the graveyard during their resolution, then you can shoot him, if it's in the state round. If it's in a different round there may very well be slightly different rules.

Author's Note: Someone give John a cookie. Yes, the boy's deck had Megarock Dragon. Unfortunately for him he never had many rocks in the graveyard. For some reason people still haven't reviewed Shadows of the Small. Go. Read. Now. You may take that cookie with you. Or I may just focus on that one until it gets enough reviews and not update this one.

Raoul examined his new opponent. She was tall, had short brown hair, was fairly skinny and wore a pink shirt and a green skirt. He mentally checked her off as 'unattractive prep' and started examining her as an opponent instead.

Unfortunately it was nearly impossible to figure out what kind of duelist she was behind all the posturing. _So much for analyzing the situation like Lucien keeps telling me to do. _They slipped their decks in. Raoul's gem turned purple and his opponents turned a deep blue.

The spinner appeared and fell on the purple, causing Raoul's team mates to smile. Raoul took the top card off his deck and broke the silence.

"Let's get this party started!" He was clearly intent on making quite the impression with the audience. The tactic worked quite well as the spectators cheered loudly.

Raoul Cooper: 8000

Infinity and Beyond Captain: 8000

On the side lines Lucien noted Mr. Dongard's continued victory over the standard display formatting. It made him wonder exactly how much power the man had in the tournament system.

Raoul didn't notice this and instead began the duel. "I'll set a monster face down and set a card behind it. Scratch that. I'll set two cards down behind it; your turn." Raoul continued to play the audience, gauging the mood of the crowd.

The opposing captain grinned. "To start the turn I play the continuous spell card Samsara. Then I will summon Senju of the Thousand Hands (1400/1000). Its ability allows me to add one ritual monster from my deck to my hand. Tell me, how long did you think this duel would last?" She didn't care about the crowd. As long as victory came into her hands she was satisfied.

Raoul thought for a moment. "I'd guess however long it takes me to beat you. I suppose it should be around half an hour."

"I'm going to say your wrong. I play the ritual spell card End of the World."

Raoul stayed positive. Somehow the name of the card wasn't conducive to it. "Why does something tell me that isn't a good thing?" The tone was almost a mockery of the situation. A more experienced actor would have tried to look afraid to garner the sympathy of the crowd.

"It isn't. Not for you at any rate. Now, I sacrifice the Senju of the Thousand Hands on the field and Sonic Bird from my hand to special summon Ruin, Queen of Oblivion (2300/2000). By the way, Samsara sends all monsters sacrificed for ritual summons back to my deck."

Senju floated into the air, and Sonic Bird appeared beside it. Between them was a mountain. Within moments all three were consumed by blue fire which shot up into the sky from the mountain. An unfamiliar celestial symbol appeared growing out of the pillar of flame. Descending out of the symbol was Ruin. It appeared as if the Queen of Oblivion was not one monster but two, a woman and a beast of shadow behind.

The captain continued. "Queen of Oblivion, attack his monster." Skilled White Magician (1700/1900) was destroyed by slash from the woman's two pronged weapon.

"Now, Ruin, attack his life points directly." This time the shadow beast struck, coming up to Raoul and grabbing him by the neck before pushing him backwards. The illusions had just enough force to make Raoul stumble back.

Raoul Cooper: 5700

Infinity and Beyond Captain: 8000

"When Ruin, Queen of Oblivion destroys a monster she may attack one more time. End turn."

On the bench, Aliya was biting her lip. She didn't like how such a powerful monster had already been summoned and couldn't see how Raoul planned on defeating it.

Raoul however had many tricks left up his sleeve. Practically speaking they should have been in his pocket as he was wearing a t-shirt, but famous idioms rarely accommodate circumstance.

"I summon Skilled Dark Magician (1900/1700). Skilled Dark Magician, attack Ruin."

Aliya jumped halfway out of her seat. "What does he think he's doing?"

Lucien put a hand on her shoulder, forcing her back down. "Just watch."

As his monster began to leap across the field in a suicidal attack, Raoul flipped up a card. "Though I was crazy for a moment there, didn't you? I activate Magician's Circle to special summon a spellcaster from my deck with 2000 or less attack. And I select Magical Marionette (2000/1000). Magician's Circle forces you to summon one as well, but I doubt you have one." He waited for recognition from his opponent, got it and continued.

"Then I'll activate the quick play spell Magical Dimension from my hand. This card requires that I have a spellcaster on the field, and its cost is to tribute a monster, in this case Skilled Dark Magician. Then I may special summon a spellcaster from my hand, and I choose Dark Magician of Chaos (2800/2600). Its ability allows me to return a spell card from my graveyard to my hand, so I'll take Magical Dimension. Magical Dimension's final ability is to allow me to destroy one monster on your side of the field, but I'm not going to use that because doing so would cause me to forfeit Dark Magician of Chaos's ability's activation. All this summoning of monsters as caused a replay in case you didn't know, so my battle phase is still in progress. Oh, and before I forget playing a spell card gives Magical Marionette a spell counter and 200 more attack points (2200/1000)."

Lucien was laughing. "And you say I'm long winded."

Raoul defended himself. "And you are! But you don't have crazy good five card combos." The crowd laughed.

"Yeah, I can do the same stuff with one card."

Raoul waved him off. "Ignoring my delusional friend over there, I'll have Dark Magician of Chaos attack Ruin." One wave of its scepter expelled enough dark magic to send Ruin into oblivion.

Raoul Cooper: 5700

Infinity and Beyond Captain: 7500

Lucien piped up from the bench. "Don't forget that Ruin is removed from play because of Dark Magician of Chaos's effect."

Raoul glared. "I haven't. How many times do I have to tell you not to back seat duel?"

"Seventeen." Now the crowd really started cracking up. Still, they clearly sided with Raoul. In fact, they had started cheering his name. Lucien was starting to understand what Mr. Dongard was going for in having his team mate's names be on the board. It was easier for the crowd to support a name than a position and a team.

Raoul's opponent was getting seriously annoyed. "Could you two stop playing around and get back to the game?" She blamed the team mates, but in reality it was clear that it was the crowd that was really bothering her.

Raoul was in altogether too good a mood. "No. No we can't… Just kidding. In any case Magical Marionette attacks directly."

Raoul Cooper: 5700

Infinity and Beyond Captain: 5300

"I'll set a card down and pass to you."

Ever impatient, his opponent growled as she made her move. "I summon Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands (1400/1000) to get me another End of the World. Now I will play it, sacrificing Shinato, King of a Higher Plane to summon Demise, King of Armageddon (2400/2000). Shinato is returned to my deck by Samsara." The mountain appeared, this time with Shinato as the sacrifice. And instead of Ruin, an armored figure lowered out of the arcane symbol. Its cape appeared to be made of blue flames which needed no breeze to flow.

"Demise has a special ability. I may pay 2000 life points to destroy all cards on the field other than itself. And I will do so now." Demise swept forth his cape, and the blue flames consumed the field.

Raoul Cooper: 5700

Infinity and Beyond Captain: 3300

Raoul raised a hand and his card flipped up. "I chain with Magical Dimension! I will sacrifice Dark Magician of Chaos to summon Apprentice Magician, adding spell counters and such, but none of that matters seeing as the field is about to go up in flames. I use Magical Dimension's secondary ability to destroy Demise, King of Armageddon."

Again the crowd screamed its support. This was probably the first time many of them had seen plays this big off of the television screen. When the flames receded, the field was completely clear. The nameless team captain was almost shaking with fury. She did her best to contain her anger knowing that it would win her no friends among the crowd. "I end my turn."

Raoul drew. His resources were in a sad state. But with a clear field he should have been able to do something. Unfortunately it appeared that he had not the monsters to mount an attack. "I set a monster face down. That is all."

Lucien sighed. It would have been nice if Raoul had been able to press the attack.

His opponent was getting impatient. "I play Fulfillment of Contract. This card allows me to resurrect a ritual monster that has been properly summoned at the cost of 800 life points. Come forth Demise!" The armored monstrosity was raised out of the ground. Whispers were heard throughout the crowd. There was no way to tell what they were talking about, but it can be assumed that they thought Raoul was in a bad position.

Raoul Cooper: 5700

Infinity and Beyond Captain: 2500

Aliya agreed with the crowd. "What is Raoul supposed to do now? She has enough life points to use its ability yet, and if she attacks directly he'll lose more than half his life points!"

Lucien shook his head. "She won't. If she did then Fulfillment of Contract would be destroyed. It's still on the field so it must be an equip spell like Premature Burial. If she uses that ability, she will destroy the spell and her own monster. Then even Magical Plant Mandrigola could finish her off."

It seemed that the captain had come to the same conclusion. "Destroy his face down monster!" The air shook with the force of the invisible attack. Raoul's set card was revealed as a hunchbacked red armored magician which was soon obliterated.

"Old Vindictive Magician's effect destroys the King of Armageddon."

Lucien smiled as the girl ended her turn. "She's done for."

"What makes you say that? She still has over a quarter of her life points. That's a fighting chance if you ask me." Said Aliya, puzzled.

"Think about it. Anything new would require at least three cards; a ritual spell, a ritual monster, and something to sacrifice. She only has one card in her hand. That severely limits her options."

"That makes sense I suppose."

Unfortunately Raoul had yet to draw anything with aggressive potential. "I set a monster and end my turn."

This bit of the duel wasn't going well for either combatant when it came to card draws evidently. The captain of Infinity and Beyond just got more irritable as her expensive cards failed to help her.

"I'll set a card. Make your move!"

Raoul did just that. Finally he had the ability to do something. "I will tribute my face down Royal Magical Library to summon Magical Marionette. Then I play Upstart Goblin to draw a card, giving you 1000 life points, as well as giving Magical Marionette a spell counter (2200/1000). Magical Marionette attacks your life points directly."

Raoul Cooper: 5700

Infinity and Beyond Captain: 3500

The female captain's eyes practically glowed. "Not if I can help it; activate Scapegoat." Magical Marionette's attack took out a goat.

"Luckily that gives my monster a second spell counter, allowing me to activate its effect. I send two Spell Counters to the graveyard and destroy one of your goats." The marionette threw one of its daggers at a goat token, destroying it. "I end my turn."

His opponent drew and immediately moved. "I summon Sonic Bird, adding a ritual spell to my hand. Then I play it, Black Illusion Ritual, sacrificing a goat token to ritual summon Relinquished (0/0)." The one eyed abomination rose to the field with an odd screech.

"Relinquished allows me to take one of your monsters and use it as an equip spell. Now!" Slowly, painfully, Magical Marionette was incorporated with the living tissues of Relinquished (2000/1000).

"Now, attack my beasts!" Sonic Bird dove in with an ear shattering cry and Relinquished attacked soon after.

Raoul Cooper: 2300

Infinity and Beyond Captain: 3500

"Now let us see if you can defeat my monsters."

Raoul had recovered from the attack and proceeded valiantly. "I can and I will. I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior (1600/1000) (1900/1000). I will use the token it was summoned with to destroy my enslaved Magical Marionette." Relinquished cried out as the bonded flesh was destroyed.

"Now I will take my revenge. Breaker, attack Relinquished." The magical warrior thrust its blade hilt deep in the cyclopean monstrosity with a sickening squelch. The crowd cheered as their chosen champion took revenge.

Raoul Cooper: 2300

Infinity and Beyond Captain: 1900

"End."

You could tell she wanted to resist. Bur really there was nothing that the team captain could do. "I switch Sonic Bird to defense mode. End turn"

Aliya turned to Lucien. "What if he can't win this turn?"

He shook his head. "He'll be fine. He has at least one more turn to beat her."

"How do you figure that?"

"He's going to destroy any sacrificial lambs she might use this turn. Next turn she'll have two cards in her hand, but unless she gets another Fulfillment of Contract or Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands and one of the cards to summon Relinquished, she won't be able to do anything on her next turn either."

Raoul took his turn. "I summon Apprentice Magician (400/800), and its summoning allows me to add a counter to Breaker (1900/1000). My apprentice will attack your final goat. Breaker the Magical Warrior will destroy Sonic Bird. Set a card and end turn." Once again his opponent's field was clear.

She drew and an evil glint appeared in her eye. "I play Fulfillment of Contract, paying 800 of my life points. Return Demise, King of Armageddon (2400/2000)!" One final time the lord of the end rose up from the field.

Raoul Cooper: 2300

Infinity and Beyond Captain: 1100

"Now I will attach him with a very special equip spell: Ritual Weapon (3900/2000). That leaves him with just enough attack to win me the game. Attack Apprentice Magician and defeat this fool!"

Raoul would have none of it. "Chain, Magic Cylinder. I win."

All of a sudden, the air shook in the other direction when the Cylinder's appeared. No one was quite clear on how the air could shake in a particular direction, but they were quite definite that it had.

Raoul Cooper: 2300

Infinity and Beyond Captain: 0

The judge stood. "The winner of the duel and the match is The Card Shop!" The crowd went wild.

Raoul came down off the duel station and grabbed a protein bar and a soda from the cooler. "So Lucien, why didn't you duel this round?"

Lucien couldn't meet his friend's eyes. "I wanted to give the two of you a chance with the holograms."

"Who are you trying to fool? You love dueling, man. You could have one of us go this round and the other next. No reason not to duel yourself. What's up?"

"It's a long story."

Aliya was listening too. "We have time. Between us we finished the round long before everyone else. Cough it up."

Lucien sighed and finally met their eyes. "The fire at my house wasn't exactly and accident."

Raoul came to the obvious conclusion. "Arson?"

"Nay, worse. The red haired lady was their waiting for me."

Aliya was shocked. "What did she do?"

"She dueled me. You're not going to believe some of this though. I don't believe it. We tied, and that's why I don't trust myself to win here." Mr. Dongard was approaching from the control booth.

"Oh, and before I forget," This was sarcastic. "I have glasses now. The fire damaged my eyes a bit."

Immediately he got pity from Aliya. "Oh, I'm so sorry! How bad is it?"

"Not too bad. I'll tell you about it later. The important thing is that she killed my family. I-… I need a drink." Lucien walked off in search of a water fountain, leaving Aliya sitting with Raoul holding a water bottle.

He wanted to tell them, he really did. But he wasn't ready to explain the Shadow Realm. Such a thing wasn't possible, but it was so. He wasn't sure if it was science or magic. _It has to be science. Magic doesn't exist. Maybe, just maybe there is some truth in some of the tales. But it would just be an extension of science, with different rules. _Anything else was impossible. Then again, lately the impossible hadn't been paying attention to its status as such.

He found a water fountain and drank deeply. When he checked his watch he realized how little time he had before the next round and headed back to the duel station. Then he remembered one of the things that they had all been told by the official in City Hall. "Unfortunately due to the numbers, the first round will be split into two parts. There are four times as many teams as duel stations meaning that first one half will duel, and then the other. All other rounds will be able to occur simultaneously.

Instead he wandered the complex, watching different teams duel. There were many varied decks present. E-Hero's faced down Water decks. In one area the Dark Scorpions were taking a beating from Archfiends.

Lucien walked around, analyzing all the decks that he might have to face in the next round. Until he passed a team that had evidently just been defeated and he overheard some of their conversation.

"- wasn't for License to Torment, she couldn't have beaten me. I've never even heard of the card!"

She was here. He knew it. He had to warn his team, to hell with the consequences. He couldn't let them be taken.

With bare minutes to spare before the next round, Lucien strode off toward his assigned duel station. He didn't notice the red haired woman watching him from across the dueling area.


	20. Hunter of Victory

Tournament of Souls Chapter 20

"Don't get mad, get even." – Animal House

"Hell, there are no rules here-- we're trying to accomplish something."- Thomas Edison

Lucien dashed through the hallways of the complex trying to get to his friends. _What if we're dueling her next? They need to be warned. _When he turned the corner and ran into the area containing the duel station, his friends were there on the bench facing down a perfectly normal team of three teenaged boys. He sat down next to his team mates, breathing heavily.

Raoul passed him the cure-all of water and a protein bar. Lucien took a sip of the water, but slipped the protein bar into a pocket. When he had recovered his breath he whispered to his friends. "The woman with red hair is here. She's in the tournament, we were right."

They stared at him. While they had known somewhere in the back of their heads that they would be encountering her, they had always thought that it would be some time later, maybe the national level. It never occurred to them that her known range of operations was the West City area, meaning that if she was in the tournament system, they would be encountering her here, at the state level.

Aliya recovered first. "Who are her team mates?"

"No idea. I haven't seen her yet. But I overheard someone who was beaten by her. It couldn't have been anyone else."

Raoul shook himself out of the shock. "Hold on, how do we know it's her then? If you haven't seen her and there must be dozens of people out there with red hair who look vaguely like her. We have no way to be sure. What exactly did you hear?"

Lucien was getting irritated. He knew that she was here. She had to be. "The guy said that he wouldn't have been beaten if his opponent hadn't used a card called License to Torment. It's an incredibly rare card, and she's the only person I've ever heard of having it. His opponent was a 'she.'"

Now Aliya was having doubts. "Lucien, I know you want to beat her. We all do. But this card isn't like Blue Eyes White Dragon. There are other duelists who have it. It is perfectly plausible that some other female duelist in the state round has it."

Lucien hated it. But he knew that his friends were right. He was a bit over eager to take her down. He took a deep breath and sighed. The judge began announcing the match.

"The Card Shop is about to face off against Mach 5. Will the team captains please come up to the podium." Wonderful, this judge knew what he was doing.

Lucien went up to the podium and shook the boy who was the opposing captain's hand. The boy leaned toward Lucien and said "Good luck." Then he leaned closer and whispered, "You'll need it."

Lucien merely raised an eyebrow and shrugged. He took a sip from the water bottle in his left hand spacing it so the opposing captain would have to move back so as not to be hit by the rising water bottle.

The captain didn't recognize the silent insult for what it was until Lucien had made his way back to the bench. By then it was too late to do anything but get angry and tell his team mates to win. _Oohh, I'm scared now. Bring it on numb skull. _

One of the opposing teams came up to the duel station cracking his knuckles. Lucien slapped Raoul on the back to get his attention and sent him up. For some reason it struck him as the strategic choice, possibly because he wouldn't be physically intimidated by anything short of an Olympian.

They each took their positions and placed their decks in the machine. Raoul's gem turned purple as his opponent's turned – well, it didn't seem to know what color to turn. It just kind of sat there flickering from one color to the next until someone in the control booth did something that settled it on green.

Raoul Cooper: 8000

Mach 5 1st Lieutenant: 8000

This time the spinner selected Raoul to go first. The audience and his opponent were made to wait as he ate a snack bar. "To start the duel off, I set a monster and end my turn with another card behind it."

His opponent drew. Lucien analyzed his expression, but it revealed nothing. "I summon Familiar Knight (1200/1400) and attack your face down monster." A purple armored spellcaster appeared and was destroyed.

Raoul grinned around yet another snack bar. "You just destroyed Apprentice Magician. I'll bring in a face down monster by its effect."

His opponent scowled fiercely. "I will set two cards and end my turn."

Raoul seemed somewhat over eager. "I will summon Skilled Dark Magician (1900/1700). Then I flip my fresh Apprentice Magician (400/800) to give it a spell counter. Then I will activate my face down card, Pitch Black Power Stone and add another spell counter to Skilled Dark Magician. For that last spell counter I will play Emblem of Dragon Destroyer to add Buster Blader to my hand."

His opponent continued to scowl fiercely. Either he was dumb, had no variation of expression, or had a plan. Raoul ignored this.

"I will now activate Skilled Dark Magician's ability to special summon Dark Magician from my deck. Now I play Dark Magic Attack, destroying all of your set spells and traps."

The ever scowling opponent flipped a card. "I chain Scapegoat. A Hero Emerges is destroyed."

Raoul continued forward. "Dark Magician will attack Familiar Knight."

Raoul Cooper: 8000

Mach 5 1st Lieutenant: 6700

His opponent scowled in what seemed to be a more intelligent fashion as he explained the consequences. "When Familiar Knight is destroyed in battle we each may special summon a four star monster from my hand. Unfortunately, Scapegoat prevents me from doing so."

Raoul was still grinning. "I will special summon Skilled White Magician (1700/1900). It will attack a goat token as will Apprentice Magician. Then I will end my turn."

The crowd was not on Raoul's side in this match. He was too haughty, too full of himself from his last duel. Nor were they about to side with his opponent; it is hard to like someone who constantly scowls. The crowd watched eagerly, but they did not side with either player. If you asked who they were supporting, odds are the majority would have named Raoul. None the less, they weren't going to advertise the fact.

His opponent took his turn in stride. These were long strides that knocked down buildings in their path, not friendly walking through the park strides. "I play the spell card Monster Gate. I sacrifice a goat token to special summon the first monster that comes up in my deck. Any spells or traps in between are discarded." One orb on the staff of Skilled White Magician lit up.

He picked the top card off his deck and dropped Monster Reincarnation into the graveyard. The next he slapped onto the field. "I summon the mighty Sword Hunter (2450/1700). This mighty warrior likes trophies and will make one of any monster he defeats in combat."

Raoul showed just how little he cared by taking a big gulp of soda. "He's still weaker than my Dark Magician. Why should I care?"

Lucien just shook his head in dismay. Raoul's opponent however was not so silent. "Watch this. First I think I'll play Wicked Breaking Flameberg – Baou. I have to discard a card to activate it, but it is very worth it. First it increases my monster's attack by five hundred points (2950/1700). Secondly it negates the abilities of anything it may destroy in battle." The second of the stones on the staff of Skilled White Magician began to glow. "Take this for example. Sword Hunter, attack Apprentice Magician."

Raoul Cooper: 5450

Mach 5 1st Lieutenant: 6700

No new monster appeared to aid Raoul. Instead Sword Hunter had taken his magician's staff and slipped it into a strap on his back as his attack rose (3150/1700). "I end my turn."

Lucien noticed that Raoul was looking dispirited. He called up to the opposing duelist. "You have been withholding one piece of information."

He looked down at Lucien, surprised. He couldn't think of anything. "What do you mean?"

"We have a right to know what the card was that you discarded to activate Wicked Breaking Flameberg – Baou."

"You do?"

The judge intervened to prevent confusion on all sides. "That is correct. Both players' graveyards are open to all eyes. Answer the opposing captain's question."

Scowling the boy looked down at his graveyard and scratched his head. "I discarded Rare Metal Dragon for all its worth."

Lucien looked towards Raoul. "It is worth quite a lot."

Raoul took his cue. "I send King of the Swamp from my hand to the graveyard in order to add Polymerization to my hand. Now I will play it, fusing Dark Magician with the Buster Blader in my hand. Put your hands together for Dark Paladin (2900/2400)!"

The crowd exploded with sound. Regardless of the players, how could one not applaud when such a monster was summoned to the field? And Raoul wasn't done yet.

"Now for the more observant of you this will come as no surprise. But my Skilled White Magician has three spell counters, and that means I can activate its ability. I sacrifice it for Buster Blader (2600/2300) from my graveyard."

All the cheering was beginning to give Lucien a headache. It didn't help any that he hadn't noticed that Skilled White Magician had collected three spell counters. At least this put his friend in a good position.

"Raoul has this game in the bag. Dark Paladin will stop any spells that his opponent might play and between it and Buster Blader he'll be able to decimate his opponent's life points."

Aliya shook her head in doubt. "I wouldn't be so sure about that. Raoul doesn't have any cards in his hand so he won't be able to discard for Dark Paladin's effect."

_I'm losing my touch. Either that or I'm reacting badly under pressure. These two have no idea what they're about to be up against. I'm tempted to try and get out of the tournament before we have to face that woman._

Raoul was on a roll. "Dark Paladin and Buster Blader share an ability. They each get 500 extra attack points for each dragon on your field and in your graveyard. Actually Dark Paladin gets that bonus for my graveyard as well. Dark Paladin (3400/2400) will attack your Sword Hunter." The spellcaster spun its heavy sword like a baton and sent a blast of dark magic to consume the opposing monster.

Raoul Cooper: 5450

Mach 5 1st Lieutenant: 6450

"Now Buster Blader (3100/2300)will destroy the last goat token and I will end my turn." The mighty warrior looked down at the sheep with contempt. He hefted his sword and cut it in two effortlessly.

Aliya cheered and yelled support. "Keep it up, Raoul; you're going to win this!" She jabbed Lucien with her elbow.

He coughed and spat out the first mildly supportive thing that came to mind. "I can only think of five ways he could beat you right now; you've got this duel in the bag."

Aliya glared at him. "Compared to what?"

"Huh?"

"Compared to how many ways to beat Raoul?"

"Oh, usually there are more than I care to count. It would help if his opponent had a tighter deck theme."

Raoul's opponent had a clear field, but for the first time in the duel he wasn't scowling. "I play Reasoning. You may know how this card works. It functions in the same was as Monster Gate except instead of sacrificing a monster I give you a choice. It is up to you to pick a level of monster. If you get it right and the first monster I pick is of that level it is discarded. If, however, you get it wrong, it is summoned. Care to try?"

Raoul considered for a moment. Lucien himself didn't know what to choose. In the end he thought Raoul made a fairly well educated choice. "I will pick seven stars."

The opponent flipped up the top card of his deck and grinned. "I'm afraid you guessed wrong. The Creator (2300/3000) has eight stars, and I bring it to the field in defense mode. Then I play Swords of Revealing Light. You may not attack for three turns. I end my turn."

Raoul gritted his teeth as the shining swords appeared. "I can only set a card and end my turn."

"Very well then. I will mimic your move."

To Lucien it was something like a ping pong match. The ball bounced back and forth and not much happened. Raoul took his turn.

"I summon Blast Magician (1400/1700). I will activate my set Pitch Black Power Stone and add a counter to it. Now I end my turn." The swords faded from the field.

The scowling duelist peeked at the card he had drawn before deciding a course of action. "I will discard this card from my hand to special summon Sword Hunter by the Creator's effect. I will have Sword Hunter attack Blast Magician and at it to his trophy collection (2650/1700)."

Raoul: 4400

Mach 5 1st Lieutenant: 6450

Raoul puzzled over his situation for a moment. Soon enough he realized that he had very few courses of action and took the best of them. "I set a card and end my turn."

The swords of light dissapeared from the field much to The Card Shop's relief.

His opponent tried his hand at mockery. "Is that all you can do? I'm so sorry for you…" It didn't take long to realize he didn't have the acting skills to pull this off successfully. "I activate my face down Shadow Spell to ensnare Buster Blader and decrease his attack (2400/2300).Sword Hunter attacks your dragon slayer." The battle didn't last long. One swift stroke from Sword Hunter ended it and he sheathed his own sword in favor of Buster Blader's (2850/1700).

"I set one card face down and end my turn."

Raoul looked like he might have a plan this time. "I will summon Injection Fairy Lily (400/1500). Then I will have Dark Paladin attack your Sword Hunter."

The scowling one flipped a card. "I chain with Rush Recklessly. Sword Hunter gains 700 attack points for the turn (3550/1700). Your Paladin is dead." With these last words he turned his thumb down, and Sword Hunter slew the famous monster. Now Sword Hunter wielded two mighty blades (3750/1700).

Raoul: 4250

Mach 5 1st Lieutenant: 6450

Raoul could only look down. "I end my turn."

His opponent grinned cruelly. "You recognize defeat."

"Never."

"Very well, allow me to do that for you. I discard the card I just drew to special summon Rare Metal Dragon (2400/1200) from the graveyard. Then I will switch The Creator to attack mode. Rare Metal Dragon will start off the attack on Injection Fairy Lily." The little monster quivered.

Raoul shook his head. "I activate Injection Fairy Lily's special ability, sacrificing 2000 life points to increase its attack by 3000 (3400/1500) during the Damage Step." Injection Fairy Lily injected itself with its syringe, and then rode the syringe to 'sting' Rare Metal Dragon into oblivion.

Raoul: 2250

Mach 5 1st Lieutenant: 5450

Mach 5's representative continued. "The Creator will attack Injection Fairy Lily with the Thunder of Creation!" The huge monster took a step forward and slammed its hands together on Lily. Out of its hands came lighting and the sound of thunder. However, when it opened its hands one of them had been injected and soon the golden monster fell. Raoul had once again sacrificed his life points to Lily.

Raoul: 250

Mach 5 1st Lieutenant: 4350

Finally his opponent was grinning. "Sword Hunter (3050/1700), attack Injection Fairy Lily and finish this!" Sword Hunter brought down both its mighty blades and sent forth a wave of force towards the cowering monster.

Raoul cried out. "I will not be defeated so easily. I activate Magic Cylinder!" The force wave went in one and popped right out the other, knocking his opponent to the ground.

Raoul: 250

Mach 5 1st Lieutenant: 1300

He stood up, laughing. "Interesting. I end my turn."

Raoul's hands shook as he drew and he put on a brave face. "I set a card and switch Injection Fairy Lily into defense mode. Your turn."

His opponent laughed again as he drew. It sent shivers down everyone on the team's spines. He took too much pleasure in winning. "I think luck is on my side today. I play Fairy Meteor Crush on Sword Hunter to allow him to deal damage despite your defensive stance. Sword Hunter, finish what should have been over a long time ago."

The monster walked over to Injection Fairy Lily and crossed its swords on either side of her neck. Then it snapped them together, like a child's scissors on a pipe cleaner.

Raoul Cooper: 0

Mach 5 1st Lieutenant: 1300

The ever fickle crowd cheered as the victor left the duel station. The judge's announcement of victory was completely lost. Lucien was shocked. Down to the last moment he hadn't expected his friend to lose. _People like us aren't supposed to lose. _

Then reality had hit. He would need to win a duel to advance them to the next round. It didn't mean he had to like it.

Lucien walked up to the duel station as Raoul came down and walked him to the bench. Lucien wanted to go up their and defeat the other team himself. He held back for two reasons. First he wasn't over anxious to duel with the deck that had failed him. Secondly he saw who it was coming up for the next duel. It wasn't the captain and Lucien wanted to get this at the root. Or maybe he just wanted more glory, but it didn't really make a difference. Instead of going up to duel, he walked with Raoul back to the bench.

He nodded to Aliya. "It's your turn."

Aliya stopped biting her lip and walked up to the duel station. Lucien turned his attention back to Raoul who whispered,

"How could I lose? I should have had that duel in the bag from the start."

Lucien shook his head sadly. "Everyone loses some times. You'll just have to do your best to make up for it next time. Maybe we can tweak your deck later. There's only one more round left today. We can make it through." At this he turned back to the duel station secretly nervous. If Aliya lost this one… no; she wouldn't lose. She couldn't. _**And if she does? What will I do then? **I'll go on. And I won't have to face that demon of a woman. **Wasn't that the entire point of being here? **The glory would be nice too, but not at the cost of my life. **There is more than my life at stake here.**_

_I'll find a way. _

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Author's Note: Please, read Shadows of the Small, the companion to this fic. This is not hard. It involves clicking on the link to my profile and clicking on the one there that is labeled Shadows of the Small: Darkness Falls. Go and be rewarded with many digital cookies.


	21. Dimensions of Discovery

Tournament of Souls Chapter 21

The Card Shop vs. Mach 5

Match 2

Duel 2

0-1

"It could not be happening because this sort of thing did not happen. Any contradictory evidence could be safely ignored." Terry Pratchett, Jingo

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who, when presented with a glass that is exactly half full, say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass! Who drank my beer?" – Terry Pratchett, The Truth

Author's Note: Meh, sorry Peace. Mr. Dongard has his own little idea of politics and crowd manipulation and he is going to do anything he can to get his team to be popular and stop other teams from doing the same. Some of them may tell their own names, but they probably won't be appearing on the boards.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aliya looked nervous as she stood at the duel station facing her opponent. Who wouldn't be when her team's success as a whole depended on her success here? Now she doubted that even Lucien could stand up here without fear. He had been avoiding dueling after all.

Her opponent didn't look too tough. He looked kind of silly actually; he was wearing a leather jacket that didn't quite fit him even though it was almost summer time. And he had a knitted hat on his head with a little green alien on it.

The judge announced the start of the duel; Aliya was grateful that this one wasn't trying to be overly dramatic. She was similarly grateful that this one didn't keep a glass of iced tea on his little platform. It was distracting to hear the ice clinking around the glass when she dueled.

And no matter how silly he looked she wanted to have her full attention on this duel. Lucien wouldn't be able to pick up the slack if she lost. There was so much that depended on her; she felt the pressure like a physical weight.

The gem on her side had turned the same familiar rainbow as it usually did. Her opponent's contained stars on a black sky. At least that was what it looked like. Aliya had no idea what that could mean and by the look on his face Lucien didn't either. Raoul looked thoughtful; a frightening prospect.

The spinner landed on the rainbow colored piece so Aliya took the first turn. Her hand wasn't outstanding but it offered potential to set up some nice plays later on. She smiled as she saw another one of the cards she had added in after the West City championship; she hadn't gotten the chance to use it last round; hopefully this one would be different.

Aliya Renon: 8000

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 8000

"I'll set a monster." She then considered for a moment. "I'll stop with that I think."

Her opponent was slightly more aggressive. "I summon Zombyra the Dark (2100/500). He will attack your face down monster."

Banisher of the Light (100/2000) never stood a chance. A single punch to the jaw knocked him into the oblivion of the graveyard.

"Whenever it destroys a monster Zombyra the Dark loses 200 attack points (1900/500). I'll set a card and end my turn."

Aliya made a quick mental calculation before making her move. "First I am going to play Soul Absorption so that I may gain 500 life points for each card that is removed from play. Then I'll set this monster face down. I will also set a single card down behind it. That will be all."

Her opponent narrowed his eyes with suspicion. He thought she was up to something. _I wish. _

"I summon Tenkabito Shien (1500/1000) in attack mode and have Zombyra attack your set monster." The set card shattered, revealing Mystical Shine Ball (500/500) which also shattered. Zombyra the Dark (1700/500) was weakened. "Then Tenkabito Shien will attack directly." The mounted warrior looked dispassionately down at Aliya, sword raised. Evidently he considered her not to be worthy enough of an opponent to dull his blade on. He hit her in the back of the head with the hilt of his sword; she staggered.

Aliya Renon: 6500

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 8000

"I need not do anything else."

To Lucien it looked like Aliya had figured out something to do. He didn't have the slightest idea what though. It didn't look like she had overly many options to him. He just hoped that her smile meant that she had something good. "To begin the turn I will summon Fire Princess (1300/1500). Now I will special summon Soul of Purity and Light (2000/1800). To do this I remove both Mystical Shine Ball and Banisher of the Light from play. So that gives me 1000 life points from Soul Absorption. Equivalent damage is done to you by Fire Princess."

Aliya Renon: 7500

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 7000

"Now I will play Dimension Distortion. This spell card allows me to special summon one of my monsters that has been removed from play to the field if there are no cards in my Graveyard. I will bring back Banisher of the Light (100/2000) in defense mode. Soul of Purity and Light will attack your Zombyra the Dark."

Her opponent held up a hand. "Not so fast. I activate the trap card A Hero Emerges. Now you must pick a random card from my hand; if it is a monster it is summoned, if it is anything else it is sent to the graveyard. Or in this case out of play I suppose. Now, pick."

Huge holographic representations of his cards appeared on the field; both sides showed only the image of the back of the card. Aliya looked at the four cards and picked the one on the far right. It looked as promising as any. It flipped around; now both sides of the card showed the image of The Earth- Hex-Sealed Fusion (1000/1600). Slowly the card faded away leaving the squirming illusion of the monster.

Her opponent grinned. "I summon it in defense mode. Your little combo manipulates life points a bit too."

Aliya Renon: 8000

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 6500

Aliya recognized the Hex- Sealed Fusion, but she couldn't see what it was doing there. _He must have some card to fuse with it in his deck. I wonder what. _

Lucien wasn't fairing any better. He couldn't think of any cards that were fusions of Tenkabito Shien or Zombyra the Dark. None came to mind. Now Lucien was fairly proud of his knowledge of Duel Monsters but even he had to admit that just because he hadn't heard of or couldn't remember a card didn't mean that it didn't exist. Take License to Torment for example. Before he could follow that train of thought farther Aliya made her move.

"Soul of Purity and Light will continue its attack on Zombyra."

Aliya Renon: 8500

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 5700

"End turn."

Aliya's opponent looked at her setup of monsters. He wasn't quite as cocky as the opponents she had faced previously. Either that or he was just plain smarter. "What is Soul of Purity and Light's effect, other than its summoning condition?"

Aliya's face brightened. "I'm glad you asked. The attack strength of all your monsters is lowered by 300 during your battle phase."

"I thought it might be something like that. I will set three cards; one monster and two otherwise, and then I will switch Tenkabito Shien to defense mode. End turn."

The field looked ripe for the picking; except for those face down cards. Aliya decided to chance an attack. "Fire Princess will attack Tenkabito Shien." The princess sent forth a wave of flame from her cape.

Now bored, her opponent activated a card and the wall of flame paused. "I will chain with Good Goblin House Keeping, causing me to draw a card, and an additional card for every copy of Good Goblin House Keeping in my graveyard; of which there are none and will persist to be none due to your combo. Then I must send one card in my hand to the bottom of my deck." He drew. "I'll send Light of Intervention to the bottom of my deck. The attack may continue."

Aliya Renon: 9000

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 5200

The frozen wave of flames swept over his monster, destroying it.

Aliya Renon: 9500

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 4700

"Next Soul of Purity and Light will attack The Earth – Hex-Sealed Fusion."

Aliya Renon: 10000

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 4200

"To end my turn I will equip Heart of Clear Water to Banisher of the Light. Now it cannot be destroyed in battle unless its attack goes above 1300."

Her opponent was clearly not happy about this. Aliya suspected the he would have liked to destroy Banisher of the Light as soon as possible. Not that it would be easy with her Soul of Purity and Light in place. None the less, he made his move.

"I'll pass this turn with a set card."

Aliya was puzzled. He should have been able to do something more. Then again, she wasn't about to let an opportunity go by. "I attack your face down monster with Soul of Purity and Light."

Swiftly he flipped up his set card. "Activate A Hero Emerges. Select a card."

He only had one card in his hand. _What a choice. I just love it when I have so many options. _Aliya pointed at it and it was revealed to be Zombyra the Dark. An ironic situation as Zombyra was the monster portrayed on A Hero Emerges.

Aliya Renon: 10500

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 3700

Aliya wasn't going to let it distract her though. She could still destroy his set monster. "I will-"

Her opponent let out a short choked laugh. "No, you won't. I chain to the special summoning of Zombyra the Dark with A Feint Plan. Now you may not declare an attack on a face down monster."

Aliya Renon: 11000

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 3200

"I'll end my turn. Take yours."

He laughed again. "I'll take it and gladly. I flip summon my set monster, The Earth - Hex-Sealed Fusion. Now I will activate its ability, fusing it with Zombyra the Dark."

There were reactions from all over the stadium. Some of those who had been present at his previous duel, and probably some of his friends from wherever it was that he hailed from cheered. Lucien and the majority of the crowd were baffled. They couldn't think of any creature that was a fusion of Zombyra. In any case, why would a fusion using Zombyra have the Earth attribute? Zombyra was dark. More than that, Zombyra was the dark. It just didn't make sense.

Yet before their eyes, the two monsters were fusing. This way of fusing wasn't half as pretty as it would have been with Polymerization. Rather than a nice, neat, and tidy vortex there was a confusion of flying clots of earth as various body parts grew and shrank. Mostly they appeared to be on a trend of growth.

Soon everything calmed down until there was just a rather large mound of earth. Or it might have been dung; except that there were no flies. It shook, and bits started to fall off. From the depths of the earth (or dung) emerged a large green being; alien in all uses of the word. Alien boy (hitherto known as Aliya's opponent) was grinning like the maniac he probably was on the inside.

"I summon The Last Warrior from Another Planet (2350/2300)."

Aliya Renon: 12000

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 2200

"Now I will explain my warrior's ability. As long as it is on the field, neither of us may summon monsters. If I had possessed any other monsters on my side of the field I would have had to destroy them. Now I will have my Last Warrior attack Fire Princess."

Aliya Renon: 11750

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 2200

"I'll end my turn."

Aliya looked at her life point total; she had a few to spare. She could afford a few risks. Problem was that she didn't have any risks to take. "I'll play Soul Release to remove Dimension Distortion from play; it's the only card in either of our graveyards."

Aliya Renon: 12750

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 2200

"Now I will play Chaos Greed, allowing me to draw two cards when I have four or more cards removed from play and none in the graveyard."

Aliya Renon: 13250

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 2200

"Finally to play one of the cards I just drew; Sanctuary in the Sky." As the familiar roof poked through the surface of the duel station, Aliya breathed a sigh of relief. Even if he drew something that allowed him to deal damage through defense she would be safe.

"End turn."

"Last Warrior From Another Planet, attack Soul of Purity and Light."

Aliya Renon: 13750

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 2200

"Take your miserable little turn."

"Very well, I will set this monster face down and end my turn."

Her opponent drew a card and smiled. "I will set a card face down. Now it is your turn."

Aliya's expression was unreadable, a perfect poker face. "I'll set this single card face down. That will be all for me."

Raoul didn't like the situation. For him this would be the perfect time to use an Old Vindictive Magician, but Aliya didn't use that card or any of its many equivalents. He couldn't even think of something in her deck that would get her out of this situation with ease. Well, there was Chaos End of course, but he didn't like the thought of her playing that again. She had passed out last time after all.

He whispered to Lucien. "Do you think she can win?"

The team captain nodded slowly. "I know she can win. The question is, will she? It all depends on those face down cards. To tell the truth, I don't know for sure. I hope so."

Raoul muttered something along the lines of, "Yeah, like I didn't already know that." Then both boys turned their attention back to the duel as Aliya's opponent made his move.

"To start your doom, I activate my face down card. It is Raigeki Break and has the ability to destroy one card if I discard one. Now, destroy Banisher of the Light!" He held his finger out, dramatically pointing at the monster. Lightning issued from a spot about three inches to the left of his finger. He chose to ignore it.

Aliya: 14750

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 2200

"Now I will attack your face down monster with Last Warrior from Another Planet. Last Soldier Shot!" The large alien braced itself as the shoulder cannon charged and stepped back as it discharged a huge beam of energy.

It dissipated against the shadowed form of a winged figure. When the light effects had completely cleared the monster was shown to be Agent of Force – Mars (12550/12550). Aliya's eyes came alive as she watched her monster unfurl his wings and launch into the air.

His shadow swept over the field as he flew above and landed in front of her adversary. Aliya seemed to lose her voice at this climatic moment. So she could only command and commend her monster softly. "Thank you Mars; now finish this with a counterstrike!" The exclamation was a sharp evacuation of breath. The Agent of Force swept his hammer down in a final strike, ending the duel.

Aliya: 14750

Mach 5 2nd Lieutenant: 0

The opposing bench erupted in outrage but the two protesters were ignored. The defeated was too stunned to argue. The crowd was in an uproar; who had ever heard of a duel being won by the damage dealt by an unsuccessful attack on a defense position monster?

Lucien couldn't have cared less. He stood and gave a walking ovation on the way to the duel station, arriving just before the elevator booth reached ground level. As the door opened he squeezed in past Aliya.

As soon as she was out he made to press the button to send him back up but stopped and turned to her instead. "What was your face down card?"

She smiled and flashed D.D. Dynamite past his eyes before heading back to the bench to watch the duel that was about to start. Lucien pressed the button to raise the platform and set his deck down. The gem turned black. It made him wonder how much it was responding to the deck and how much to the duelist.

His opponent was somewhat slower. The captain of Mach 5 was just now being raised to the level of the field. He was different than the rest; not in the way he looked which was ordinary enough with brown hair that was in need of cutting and a t-shirt and damaged jeans. No, he looked perfectly normal if a bit out of date. It was the way he held himself that was different.

His face suggested confidence. His eyes darted around nervously as if looking for some superior which seemed to contradict the rest of his expression. Lucien hadn't been paying attention to him earlier so he didn't notice how he walked in large quick strides. Another contradiction; the large strides suggested an air of confidence that the speed counteracted. Speed is oft caused by nervousness. Raoul was the only one who noticed the stride and he took no note of it.

All of this went far over Lucien's head. He saw an opponent and that was all that mattered. To Lucien the world was black and white. If you saw gray you weren't looking closely enough. At the moment nothing mattered outside of their opposition and the fact that one must come out on top and that the other must lose.

His opponent stood there with his deck held in the air. The crowd began to murmur. It had to be symbolic some how. Then he spoke. "I refuse to be known only as 'Mach 5 Captain.'" Now the murmuring was of a definite positive nature. The crowd could feel a rousing speech when it was on the way and acted accordingly, completely ignoring anything except that opening line.

"I will not duel unless my name is posted on the score board as his is. I am Jess Colbert."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Behind the scenes, Mr. Dongard contemplated this. If this Jess had his name posted, it would take away from the glorification of Lucien as he wouldn't be fighting a nameless enemy. But if the name was not posted and Jess refused to duel, it would be the same as handing the victory to Lucien. Yet it would be a glory less victory. He would gain no supporters if he won by default. It would be a shallow victory indeed and one containing no omen of greatness.

Not the type of victory he would need.

Mr. Dongard picked up one of the closed circuit connections and spoke

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The judge looked as if he was in over his head. This wasn't a decision for him. This was the type of thing that would be argued over for hours in a briefing room by a bunch of old men and women. To Aliya's eyes he seemed relieved when he answered a wireless company phone after only a few moments of awkward silence. It wasn't a cell phone, it was too large. It was more the type of thing that one might see carried around by secretaries and janitors these days. Basically it was a replacement of the bulkier walkie-talkie that had gone out of use years ago.

He nodded a few times at what was being said and then hung up, slipping the device back into his pocket. Then he stood and addressed the crowd. "It has been decided that the name of Mach 5's team captain will be posted along with that of The Card Shop."

Lucien nodded slowly. He couldn't care less whether the combatants' names were known as long as he got to duel. He however recognized and cursed the politics of the answer. The social maneuvering was beyond his understanding and he knew it. That didn't mean he had to like it, it just gave him one more reason not to.

The judge picked up the phone again and soon after his opponents name appeared on the board as he set down his deck. As it turned out the two events happened simultaneously. The gem remained clear on Jess's side of the field and after a brief conversation on the phone the judge announced to the crowd that there was a slight technical difficulty and that the gem would have to remain clear.

The spinner appeared and landed on black. In fact, there was nothing but black on the spinner. According to the judge this was inspired by the technical difficulty, but it just so happened that the spinner would have selected Lucien anyhow. Without any evidence to the contrary the duel began.

Lucien Morningstar: 8000

Jess Colbert: 8000

Lucien's name was printed in a smaller font due to length which made Aliya giggle briefly before he started his turn.

"To start the duel off I will play the spell card Meteor of Destruction, dealing 1000 points of direct damage to you." A meteor appeared just above the duel station and slammed into Jess.

Lucien Morningstar: 8000

Jess Colbert: 7000

"I will follow that up with Tremendous Fire. I pay 500 life points to deal 1000 in damage to you once again." Fires erupted around both duelists.

Lucien Morningstar: 7500

Jess Colbert: 6000

"And I will play Tremendous Fire yet again."

Lucien Morningstar: 7000

Jess Colbert: 5000

"Next I will play Ectoplasmer; we each must tribute one face up monster on our side of the field at the end of each turn. Then half of that monster's attack points are dealt to the opponent. I will summon Giant Orc and set a card before ending my turn. Giant Orc is sacrificed."

Lucien Morningstar: 7000

Jess Colbert: 3900

Jess looked weary after the spirit that had come out of Giant Orc had plunged through his body. "I summon Disciple of the Forbidden Spell (1700/800) and attack your life points directly." The warrior dashed forward and disappeared through a transparent wall only to tap his controller on the back of the head with its sword.

Lucien Morningstar: 7000

Jess Colbert: 2200

Seeing the question in his opponent's eyes Lucien spoke. "I activated Dimension Wall. It transfers battle damage that I would take to you."

Jess nodded slowly. "I will set a card. Now I end my turn and sacrifice Disciple of the Forbidden Spell."

Lucien Morningstar: 6150

Jess Colbert: 2200

Lucien scowled as he saw what he had drawn. "What a pity; I had wanted to end this duel with an even life point loss. I summon Indomitable Fighter Lei Lei (2300/0). Attack his life points directly." The warrior lunged forward. The face down had been a bluff.

Lucien Morningstar: 6150

Jess Colbert: 0

The hollow sound of a single person clapping echoed through the room. The crowd hadn't quite caught on that the duel was over just yet. Lucien looked up into the crowd to see a familiar red haired figure standing with an ironic grin on her face. She was the one clapping of course. The crowd caught on and burst into applause.

Lucien's teammates followed his gaze and stared. She looked normal and unthreatening. She stood there in a flowered dress and green stained straw sun hat applauding. There was no doubt as to whom it was though.

Things are rarely as they seem.


	22. The Flip Side of the Coin

Tournament of Souls

Chapter 22 – State Round

1st Duel - 3rd Match

"You are being very mysterious, and I'm sure you're also wasting my time. But what do I have to waste but time?" – Garth Nix, Sir Thursday 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucien stared into the audience where the red haired fiend had just been standing. He had gotten out of the duel station as fast as possible with the intent of initiating a chase, but to no avail. She was gone.

There were five minutes left before the next round started. They were to be in the same arena. Lucien raked the stands with his eyes, but there was no one to be seen. He sat down and sullenly re-read a magazine full of card descriptions. Then the announcement came through.

"After the third round of dueling, all duelists will be permitted to have a one hour lunch break. The third round of dueling commences in two minutes." When it finished ads began to scroll across all available screens for everything from Fred's French Fries (better, leaner, better) to Mini-Pix (your pictures, just mini and now you can get the newer, better, adhesive, Sticky-Pix).

Raoul and Aliya had been conferring on the other side of the bench. Raoul slid over towards Lucien.

"How do you want to manage this next match?"

Lucien shrugged. "I'll take the first duel. You can go next."

"Why so eager to duel all of a sudden?"

"The deck works. I know that now." Lucien's expression didn't invite further questioning. A custodial worker moved invisibly through the background, refilling both teams' coolers and taking away the trash.

"Alright, alright, have it your way." Raoul threw up his hands in mock exasperation. "Just make sure you don't lose."

Raoul moved off to graze on the newly replaced snack bars. Lucien muttered under his breath, softly so he thought no one could hear.

"Don't worry, I won't. My next loss will be the last."

Aliya had moved behind him to speak with him and overheard. She walked away pretending that she hadn't noticed anything but she pondered what she had heard, turning it over in her mind. It didn't make any sense one way or the other. Unless he was planning on giving up dueling the next time he lost. But that was absurd! Lucien had lost plenty of times in the past. It had never stopped him before.

It was like he had an ongoing mantra on playback in his head. 'Duel till you drop, never ever stop.' Now Aliya wasn't sure if it was actually possible to duel to the point of exhaustion as the game didn't take all that much energy, but if it was possible, she felt sure Lucien would do it.

She adjusted one of the hair clips he had given her. Then again, maybe it was possible for a duel to take energy. She had passed out during her duel against Sanchez after all. There had to be an explanation somewhere. She just wasn't sure what.

And then there had been what had happened with Larron. It wasn't natural. Now, it could be supernatural, but such things didn't exist. They plagued the nightmares of the readers of too much fiction, but they didn't come to real life. Did they?

Was there another explanation? Not that she could think of. The most reasonable involved large amounts of hallucinogens that Aliya knew full well she had never touched. And what were the odds on all three of them having the same hallucination? Not good.

It wouldn't have shocked Aliya at all to discover that some divine game was taking place where the gods were betting on the cause of everything. If the cause was drugs, then anyone who had bet on it would be going home rich and the bank would be chased out of the casino scared and penniless.

Of course, none of this was taking place. It was a nice thought though.

The judge returned to his post with two fresh cups of coffee. His trash bin had never been emptied, and it was both smaller and fuller than the ones that the contestants had.

Judging by the number of coffee cups with it, someone was going to get a talking to afterward about consuming too much caffeine on the job. Then the judge in question would be quite glad that his coffee shop of choice hadn't written the number of extra shots on the cups.

Lucien noticed the return of the judge and walked in front of the duel station, anticipating the announcement.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. Dongard was in a control room with many other men in business suits of the same make and style as his own. The casual observer would find it frightening how much like these men were. Then they would turn around and see the women on the other side of the control room, but it would only be a fleeting glance on the way out the door. Each and every woman wore their hair in a tight bun, with similar if not identical outfits. The uniformity stopped at the name tags that each person in the room wore. For example Mr. Dongard wore a badge which read: Mr. Dongard, Sr. Supervisor of Games Administrations, West City.

Everyone in the room held a copy of the same sheets; the computer read-outs from the previous duels. At the very bottom was a very short entry from the end of a duel.

/ Duel End/ Field Conditions: Lucien Morningstar/Monsters: Indomitable Fighter Lei Lei. Lucien Morningstar/Spell+Trap: Ectoplasmer. Jess Colbert/Spell+Trap: Generation Shift.

Mr. Dongard walked over to the representative from Mach 5's district wielding a document that was the business version of a poker chip. "I want a three page recommendation in my box Monday morning along with the results manipulation codes for the limited release card contest."

The woman who represented that district quickly wrote off a note and handed it to the secretary who was standing at her elbow, yet had been unnoticeable until the moment she handed him the slip of paper. The secretary scampered off on an unknown mission while his boss offered Mr. Dongard a cup of coffee.

The benefits of winning are always worth the trouble.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucien shook hands with the captain of the opposing team, Galactic Games. He didn't bother to take notice of what he looked like. It wouldn't matter in the end. The result would be the same, win or lose.

It would have to be a win. Lucien reached the top of the duel station first, and the team captain sent up one of his team mates, wearing a t-shirt proclaiming 'How many scientists does it take to change a light bulb? Just one, but you need to give him the time to take it apart.'

Both duelists inserted their decks. Lucien's gem turned black as his opponent's turned into a black and pink vortex. Several teenaged bystanders winced. It looked like a Goth and preppy girl had been stuck in a blender. The sad things the programmers had come up with.

The spinner appeared, and Lucien lost the spin. He was unperturbed.

Lucien Morningstar: 8000

Galactic Games 2nd Lieutenant: 8000

Lucien winced as he realized what the opposing captain had planned. _He's sending me up against the weakest one, expecting me to tear through him. Then he thinks he'll be able to outclass Aliya and Raoul by using higher ranked duelists. We'll see just how wrong he is._

_… But not too wrong. That would involve me losing to this sissy. That would be sad._

And Lucien's opponent was almost certainly deserving of the title 'sissy.' It was true in every sense of the word. He wore an effeminate face and air, and his fingernails were discolored from a distance. Closer examination would prove the presence of nail polish in a discreet shade of blue.

It seemed that strange people flocked to the game of duel monsters. Lucien, once again discounting the appearance and personality of his opponent, only paid attention as the duel began.

As he announced his move, it was discovered that the strange duelist also had a slightly higher voice than might be described as normal. "I will set a monster face down and place two cards down behind it. I end my turn."

Lucien drew, but before he could make his move his opponent spoke. "You ought to know; I wield several rare cards which you have probably never heard of."

Lucien muttered "Girly man" in an inaudible tone before replying. "I very much doubt that. Even so, I am no stranger to the unknown and will doubtless be able to fight your cards effectively."

The boy smiled faintly. "Suit yourself, but you have been warned."

_Sure I have. It seems to me that he's just trying to intimidate me the only way he can. _

"Well, I'll start off my turn by playing Meteor of Destruction. As long as you have over three thousand life points I can play this card and inflict 1000 direct damage upon you."

Lucien Morningstar: 8000

Galactic Games 2nd Lieutenant: 7000

Lucien's opponent screeched. "It burns!"

His team captain rolled his eyes and yelled up at him. "It's just a hologram you ninny. Now get over it and duel!"

Lucien decided not to wait for his opponent to mentally prepare himself. "I'll follow that up by setting two cards face down and summoning Goblin Attack Force (2300/0). I think I'll just end my turn there."

His opponent still looked slightly miffed, but after he had drawn his face brightened. "Oooh, now you'll pay."

"Cash, check, or credit?"

"Pain!"

Lucien blinked a few times in disbelief. "Hey, your village called, they're missing their lunatic. Can somebody call the men in white coats?"

The loudspeaker interfered with any further commentary. "No insulting or otherwise showing disrespect for one's opponent!"

To Lucien's surprise, his opponent spoke, defending them both. "What insults? This is just friendly banter between two duelists." To add emphasis, he screeched, "So stay out!" _Strange, other than the interjection it sounded almost scripted. _

He breathed a few deep calming breaths before actually starting his turn. "I flip summon the first of those cards I told you about; _Hare – Servant of Curran #1_." A small black rabbit appeared on the field.

Lucien cocked his head to one side. "Now, I've read some about that card, but why don't you tell the audience what it does?" _I can't remember a thing about the card other than that it has several effects involving Curran. _

The boy smiled primly. "When this monster is flipped, I must special summon one, Ebon Magician Curran (1200/0) to the field in attack mode. As long as Hare – Servant of Curran #1 is on the field, Curran is unaffected by your trap cards. Also, Hare – Servant of Curran may not be attacked as long as Curran is on the field. Now, meet one of the stars of my deck, Ebon Magician Curran."

The child magician appeared and flicked its whip. It must be said that she completely failed to look dangerous, having the face and clothing of a child.

"Now I will activate my trap; _Numerical Nimbus_. This card allows me to take one monster on my side of the field that includes a number, indicated by the number symbol (#)-" It wasn't clear how he did it, but as he said those two words, his facial expression indicated parentheses, and the symbol so that it was practically spoken. This is in fact possible. Politicians do it all the time, and so do lawyers. And real estate salesmen. And executives. As a matter of fact, all the people wandering around who you suspect are actually aliens do it. They wouldn't be aliens without it. Off in the conference room, Mr. Dongard marked down the duelist as 'potential executive officer material.'

Unfortunately the duelist wasn't so thoughtful as to pause to allow for the time to think of all this. "- and return it to my deck in order to summon a monster with exactly the same name except for the number which must be no more than one different, more or less. I will now send Hare – Servant of Curran #1 to my deck in order to special summon _Hare – Servant of Curran #2 (1350/1700)._"

This monster looked different than the last. Rather than being black it was a shade of grey, and now it was rather taller and wore a butler's uniform. Now that he had seen the first, Lucien thought he knew the effect.

"This one increases Curran's attack and shares the ability of its predecessor to not be an attack target as long as Curran is on the field, correct?" I had no idea what the actual stat increase was, but the digital display helped me out there as it showed the new attack (1600/0).

"That is correct. And now in order to stop your attacks completely, I will attach Raregold Armor on to Hare. Now you may attack neither monster as you both must, and are unable to attack Hare."

_I think I may regret my decision to change decks some time soon. This one attacks much more frequently than the last, clearly a statistical error on my part._

"Are you done then?"

"Of course I am," Said the effeminate duelist with a hand motion. "I've just been waiting for you to ask."

"Would you mind surrendering?"

"Not at all, but I wouldn't survive the trip out." He said with a nod toward his teammates and the stands. A green sunhat bobbed in and out of view like a tropical island in a storm of spectators.

Lucien cocked his head to the side. He hadn't seen the sunhat and so missed an entire level of meaning. "In that case I'll just have to make my move. I'll set one monster face down and play Tremendous Fire."

Lucien Morningstar: 7500

Galactic Games 2nd Lieutenant: 6000

"That will be all for my turn."

His opponent flipped a card, grinning. "I'll activate a trap during your end phase. It's called Ojama Trio and this is how it works. Three Ojama Tokens are placed on your field in defense mode, and these tokens may not be tributed for larger monsters. Whenever one of them is destroyed you lose 300 life points. But seeing as my turn just started," he said drawing a card. "That will be the last of your worries. Ebon Magician Curran's special ability activates. It causes you to lose 300 life points per monster on your side of the field."

Curran cracked her whip which had extended by several yards.

Lucien Morningstar: 6000

Galactic Games 2nd Lieutenant: 6000

Lucien glared as his opponent continued. "I don't really have much to do. I can just wait like this until you run out of life points. I'll set another two cards for backup and end my turn."

Lucien looked at the card he had drawn with disgust. _I hope there's no Hare-Servant of Curran #3. That could get irritating. I'm already sick and tired of these creatures._

"I'll activate my set trap card during my standby phase. The trap is Destruction Ring and this is what it does. I destroy one monster on my side of the field and we each take 1000 damage. The monster I choose is the one I set last turn, Mecha-Dog Marron (1000/1000). When this monster is destroyed by a card effect, you lose 1000 life points. Feel the pain."

A chain reaction was set off with the combined explosions of Destruction Ring and Mecha-Dog Marron. Illusory smoke billowed around the two combatants, obscuring them completely.

A paper bullet hurtled through the air hitting Lucien in the chest and bouncing down onto the floor. He picked it up and pocketed it out of habit. Schools pressed recycling hard those days.

Lucien Morningstar: 5000

Galactic Games 2nd Lieutenant: 4000

When he pulled a card out of his hand he saw that one of his fingers had a streak of silver on it. By now the smoke had cleared and he was suspicious. He had already been set on edge by the use of the card that had set his house on fire and expected the shadows to leap out and seize him at any moment. He took out the paper and began unfolding it. As soon as he caught a few letters he knelt down as if to tie his shoe. It was embarrassing, feigning tying his shoe for no apparent reason in front of the crowd, but well worth it.

The paper contained a note written in silver eyeliner…

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. Dongard returned smiling from a highly profitable coffee break. The loss of that idiot last round had been turned to his advantage. The higher ups had made a decision that had been related to Mr. Dongard and his peers by a secretary; "It has been decided that any duelist may decided to have his slash her own name placed on the board in place of their team slash ranking. Such a decision may also be made by a team captain, parent and slash or guardian, or administrative supervisor."

None of the other supervisors was willing to put their clients' names up for fear that they would be humiliated. Mr. Dongard had seen a reporter's notes. The loss would be going down in infamy. Nowhere had the prediction been made that the terms 'a Jess Colbert loss' or 'a loss of Colbert proportion' would come into use and that was practically a guarantee.

The smile slipped from Mr. Dongard's face when he saw what was on the screen. His client was kneeling down, apparently tying a shoe lace during the middle of a duel. Didn't he realize what people would think? The people read too many novels. They would naturally assume that he was reading a love note slipped to him unseen, or crying his eyes out at his terrible position. They might even think he was reading a note that was a part of some secret conspiracy to take over the world. People would think of such absurd things.

It didn't help that Lucien had that long, dramatic, last name either. He sounded like a celebrity already. No need to ask him to change his name when he reached stardom. But it was too impersonal. Lucien would need to be a people's man.

Mr. Dongard smiled. With a slight edit would come the induction into a higher level of bureaucracy. If Lucien won of course, but that was a minor point.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Steal one of my monsters_

_Lys_

The note looked rushed. If it was not for the signature Lucien would have thought it to be incomplete. As it was he doubted that the author had been given time to write their full name out. On that note, no pun intended, there was only one person who could have authored the note: his opponent.

But why would his opponent want him to steal one of his monsters? And did he want Lucien to physically take the card, or play a card to bring it to his side of the field? Either way, it made very little sense. Why would he want Lucien to do either of those things in the first place? None of it made sense.

Lucien came to a decision and formulated his move. It was almost too perfect really. "To begin my turn I will summon this card; Amazon Archer. Then I will use her special ability to sacrifice two monsters on my field to inflict 1200 direct damage to your life points. So first I will sacrifice two of the Ojama Tokens which you so kindly gave me."

Lucien: 4400

Galactic Games 2nd Lieutenant: 2800

Lucien blinked at the change in the display. Not only had his name been truncated, but his life points had gone down. Then he remembered. _Ojama Tokens deal me 300 points of damage each when they are destroyed. I need to keep that in mind._

"I'll repeat the maneuver with the last token and Goblin Attack Force."

Lucien: 4100

Galactic Games 2nd Lieutenant: 1600

"Finally I will play Brain Control, paying 800 life points to seize control of Ebon Magician Curran."

Lucien: 3300

Galactic Games 2nd Lieutenant: 1600

Lucien's opponent who he now took to be called Lys quietly flipped one of his face down cards that showed the image of a goat diving in front of White Magician Pikeru. _That gives away more than he might wish. _

"Are you going to tell us about this wonderful card of yours?" Lucien was ticked by his opponent's sullenness.

"It's called _Royal Body Double_. This card may only be activated when a monster with Curran or Pikeru in the title is targeted by a card effect. It creates a Body Double Token with the same stats as the targeted monster and switches the target to the token. So you just stole the body double token." Lys drew an object out of his pocket and slipped it into a slot at the side of the compartment, presumably it was the token and the slot for the purpose of exchanging the control of cards.

When the token came through, it turned out to be a quarter. The strange thing was this quarter had things stuck to it. Lucien peeled one off; it was a very small picture of Lucien about to smash in a gangster's nose with a metal pipe. The other was a picture of Lucien in the same position, but with his eyes closed and no pipe.

_What the hell?_

Lucien was in a daze. He couldn't make sense of it. He pocketed the Sticky-Pix and placed the quarter on his field. A holographic image of Ebon Magician Curran appeared on his side of the field.

"I sacrifice the token and Amazon Archer itself to deal more damage to you."

"I'll chain to that, A Rival Appears! This card allows me to special summon a monster in my hand with the same level as a monster on your field. And the token I gave you has the same level as White Magician Pikeru. Of course this does nothing to stop the damage."

Lucien: 3300

Galactic Games 2nd Lieutenant: 400

"I'll end my turn."

"Well I draw and then Pikeru-"

Lucien cut Lys off with a hand motion and flipped a card. "Pikeru does nothing, this ends here. I flip this card during your draw phase. Go Just Desserts. It deals you five hundred in direct damage for each monster on your field. You have three which is three too many."

Lys smiled as both duelists walked down from their platforms. Lucien walked to the middle where he had shaken hands with the other team captain earlier and beckoned his defeated opponent over.

Lys came and Lucien looked him sternly in the eye as if he had committed some misdemeanor. "Here's your quarter."

Lucien pressed it into his hand, maybe a little harder than necessary, and turned back toward his teammates. Out of his range of sight Lys turned the coin over in his hand before making a quick dash for the restrooms. Not only was his team captain looking at him angrily, but his make-up had started to run.


	23. Beyond the Normal

Tournament of Souls –Chapter 23

The Card Shop vs. Galactic Games

1-0

"He'd been wrong, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and it was a flamethrower." – Terry Pratchett, _Mort _

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are few people who can, directly before mortal combat, look their opponent in the eye and ask about the weather. Raoul was not one of those people.

He asked about the food.

"Have you tried any of the health shakes?"

The team captain of Galactic Games looked at him like a gastric bypass surgeon being told by his patient to lose weight. That is rather as if he though Raoul was crazy to say such a thing to him while he was the one holding the scalpel.

"No."

"You know, neither have I. I opened one and looked in but it was green on the inside. I suppose that's why the bottles aren't see-through."

"Do you think we could start?"

"Oh, of course we can. Sorry about that."

They had already inserted their decks. Raoul's gem had of course turned the purple of his Dark Magician. His opponent's had gone a rather delicate shade of yellow. The spinner appeared and landed on the yellow.

"I'll be going first then."

Raoul: 8000

Galactic Games Captain: 8000

"And I'll start the duel by summoning Insect Knight (1900/1500) and setting two cards face down. I'll end my turn to see if you can do anything against a basic play."

Raoul was annoyed. His opponent might call it a basic play, but it wasn't going to be easy to counter immediately. "I'll set a monster. It's your turn to go up against a simple play."

Unfortunately Raoul couldn't quite pull off the turning of the tables. He was trying too hard. The opposing duelist smirked.

"I think I can already guess what your face down monster is. I'll activate my trap, Skill Drain, and we can see if I'm right. This trap works by my paying 1000 life points to activate its powers, but after that all monster effects on the field are negated."

Raoul: 8000

Galactic Games Captain: 7000

"If that monster is what I think it is, then it won't be on the field to be negated when I attack it. So I'm going to play Stop Defense on it."

The face down card changed position and was revealed to be Old Vindictive Magician (450/600).

"It is just as I thought. I'll summon a friend now. You seem to play spellcasters; you should be familiar with Gemini Elf (1900/900). Gemini, attack his Old Vindictive Magician."

Raoul: 6550

Galactic Games Captain: 7000

"Then Insect Knight attacks directly."

Raoul: 4750

Galactic Games Captain: 7000

"If you hadn't already made it to this point I'd think you were stupid. You must be planning something. But what I wonder? Alas I will not be waiting to see. I play Non-Spellcasting Area so that normal monsters are unaffected by spell cards. End turn."

Raoul wished he had a plan. The truth was that he had just about as much of a plan as an ostrich has chance of flying.

"I set a monster and another card before ending my turn."

His opponent drew, smirked, and made his move. "I'll begin my turn by playing Heart of the Underdog. Now during my draw phase, if I draw a normal monster, I may show that monster to you in order to draw another card. Now I will have my Gemini Elf attack your facedown monster."

Raoul found a genuine air of confidence. "My facedown monster is Skilled White Magician (1700/1900). You're not getting through him."

"I'm not through with him yet." Was all his opponent would say as he ended his turn.

Raoul drew but left the new card in his hand instead taking out one he'd had from the start. "I sacrifice Skilled White Magician for Magical Marionette (2000/1000) and have this new monster attack Gemini Elf."

All of a sudden a card flipped and his opponent smiled. "I activate the trap Reinforcements. My monster gets five hundred extra attack points for the turn (2400/900)."

Raoul's marionette had already thrown its dagger and it was too late to do anything about it. Gemini Elf caught the dagger and sent it, glistening, back at its owner.

Raoul: 4350

Galactic Games Captain: 7000

All of a sudden the card he'd just drawn was looking very good. "I set a card and pass."

The open field was a tempting target for Raoul's opponent, too tempting perhaps. His opponent looked at Raoul's face down cards warily as he drew and flashed Raoul the card; Beast of Talwar and Heart of the Underdog glowed. He drew another card and looked to Raoul for any hint as to his intentions. Getting only a broad grin, he flipped one of his face down cards.

"I activate Rageki Break, discarding Vorse Raider, to destroy the card you two turns ago."

Pitch-Black Power Stone appeared and shattered. The opposing captain snarled, irritated to have wasted destruction on a useless card. "I'll tribute Insect Knight for Beast of Talwar (2400/2150) and attack with Gemini Elf."

Raoul: 2450

Galactic Games Captain: 7000

"And now I attack with Beast of Talwar."

"No!"

"And how do you intend to stop me?

"Activate, Magic Cylinder."

The sword-wielding fiend blundered into one tube and out the other- straight into its lord and master.

Raoul: 2450

Galactic Games Captain: 4600

The crowd ooh-ed and ah-ed. Lucien glared at the audience in general for disturbing his thoughts. He had been trying to puzzle out both the meaning of the pictures Lys had given him and what type of action to take against Larron's killer. The pictures were the easier of the two, though the one without a time limit. Despite this, Lucien tried to focus on them. Whenever his thoughts strayed to the red-headed villainess his thoughts were colored with the red of rage and could not be trusted.

Lucien turned his attention to the platform as the duel continued. It was Raoul's turn.

Raoul had some catching up to do. His opponent could kill him with ease on this next turn- it would take cunning to avoid that fate. Now Raoul wasn't well known for wits. What he could be depended upon for was his survival instinct, born of many years competitive athletics.

"I set one monster to end my turn."

His opponent drew, sneering. "To end the turn you say? To end the duel more like." He looked at what he had drawn and simply added it to his hand. He had clearly failed to get an extra draw from Heart of the Underdog. With luck that also meant that he didn't have the resources to finish off Raoul.

"I play Dark Factory of Mass Production which allows me to take two normal monsters from my graveyard and add them to my hand. You know what that means." He said as he retrieved Vorse Raider and Insect Knight. "Have fond memories of Insect Knight? I hope so, because he remembers you. I summon Insect Knight (1900/1500)."

The monster again appeared on the field which got the spectators excited all over again. Half of them were dreaming of the miraculous ways Raoul would save himself, and the other half thought of nothing but Raoul's imminent defeat.

Raoul's opponent soaked up the attention and reflected it back on the audience with what he must have considered a jaunty grin and brushed his hair back with one hand. "Since I know you want to see Insect Knight in action, he'll attack your face down monster."

A purple garbed magician looked up in shock and shattered. A face down card appeared to replace it.

"You just destroyed my Apprentice Magician, and since it was wiped off the field, its effect activated summoning a weak mage to the field face down."

Raoul grinned as his opponent steamed. It wasn't difficult for his opponent to intuit what that card might be. After fiddling with one of the cards in his hand he made his decision. "Beast of Talwar will attack the facedown monster."

Aliya whistled softly. "This guy isn't bad. It takes skill to make a decision like that. If he attacks with his stronger monster, Raoul will have to destroy the weak one that hasn't attacked to prevent damage." Lucien grunted in agreement.

The duelists hadn't paused for the comment however, and the anticipated Old Vindictive Magician (450/600) had been destroyed, taking Gemini Elf with it. Raoul's opponent was just finishing off the turn.

"I'll set a card and end. I still hold control of the board."

Raoul drew a card off his deck and adopted a serious expression for the first time in the duel.

"What makes you believe that you hold control of the field?"

His opponent guffawed. "What doesn't? I have two powerful monsters on the field, supported by cards what make them hard to rival. You have no cards on the field and I'm willing to bet that the cards in your hand are spells which Non-Spellcasting Area has rendered useless."

Nodding slowly, Raoul selected a card from his hand. Lucien nodded along with him and spoke to Aliya. "What he says is mostly true. But he needs to learn that not everything is based on what his opponent wants to do to him. Some things are purely for their own gain. Is it greed? Not always. Look at your deck for instance. It-"

Aliya grinned. "Lucien! I know how my own deck works."

Lucien rubbed the back of his head and blushed lightly. "You have a point, sorry about that." Their attention returned to Raoul.

"I bring Skilled Dark Magician (1900/1700) to the field."

His opponent immediately smirked knowingly. "Do you hope to destroy both your monster and my Insect Knight in order to spare yourself for another turn? I welcome you to try but you must have forgotten that I have Vorse Raider in my hand still."

Raoul blinked sagely. Then he shook his head as if shaking off sleep and returned to his normal, playful self. "I'd let you stay wrong, but unless you're really stupid you'll catch on soon. You probably know that Skilled Dark Magician's normal purpose is to summon Dark Magician."

"Well, yes. But Skill Drain has stopped that."

"Right, well that's what you think. Skilled Dark Magician is still going to bring on his master, but he'll need some outside help. I play Tribute Doll, allowing me to sacrifice one monster on the field so as long as I don't mind not attacking with it I can special summon a seven star monster from my hand. And guess how many stars Dark Magician has?"

"Seven!" A gaggle of overenthusiastic girls screamed from the stands behind the team bench. Evidently Raoul had just scored his own cheering squad. And according to their shorts they attended the same school as he.

Atypically, Raoul ignored his fans. "So, how many stars?"

For the first time in the duel, the opponent was under pressure. For the most part Raoul hadn't done much to facilitate this. He just added a few key lines that made it seem like he was in control. The new angle was a function of the crowd's mood.

The entirety of the duel, the Galactic Games representative had been riding the wave of public opinion. Despite remaining nameless, he had received the crowd's favor. But now the power of a few attractive (Lucien would contest this point) females had swayed the entire audience.

So that's why football teams need cheerleaders.

After an uncomfortable pause the opponent spoke. "Don't you know your own monster?"

An impromptu Galactic Games banner was ripped. A lot of foresight had gone into that.

Raoul held back a laugh. "I do so I'll tell you; seven. I special summon the star of the show, Dark Magician."

Despite the climax, the graphic designers failed to manifest anything other than a few sparks which sputtered pitifully next to the purple clad mage.

"I'm about up to here with your fancy backfield." Raoul said, "And I'm going to get rid of it once and for all. I play Dark Magic Attack." One by one his opponent's safeguards were consumed by violet waves of magic. First Skill Drain, then the rest all the way through the Rising Energy he had facedown.

"End."

Lucien wasn't impressed. "Raoul's left himself open. If his opponent can destroy Dark Magician, he's toast."

Aliya shook her head, a strand of hair escaping the clips. "True, but think of all the things in Raoul's deck that could let him take control of the duel."

"And then the world is his bivalve."

"Oyster."

Raoul's opponent was looking nervous and desperately trying not to show it. That was what gave him away. "I set a card and summon Vorse Raider (1900/1200). I end."

When he drew, Raoul accidentally knocked a few cards off the top of his deck. This being the most excitement the judge had seen all day, he rushed over to make sure the deck was properly shuffled and unseen, the whole administrative bit. Lucien took the opportunity to divulge more of his common wisdom.

"It looks like the captain just outwitted himself."

Aliya was confused. "How's that?"

"Simple: he's trying to make it look like he has a trap facedown that will make even his weaker monsters stronger than Dark Magician. But the only card he has that does that is Rising Energy, and that requires a discard from his hand. By summoning Vorse Raider, he emptied his hand. "

Aliya pondered this. "He could have Rush Recklessly."

Lucien chuckled. "If he does, he's a fool. Non-Spellcasting Area would stop that from working effectively."

"He could still have Covering Fire."

Lucien had to admit, she had a point. "Maybe. We'll just have to hope he doesn't and Raoul has some kind of all around solution."

Raoul couldn't have cared less about what his friends thought about the situation. Somehow or another, his friend's opinions ranked under the cheerleaders, and he had ignored the cheerleaders. He made his move.

"I summon Breaker, the Magical Warrior (1600/1000)-(1900/1000). I will use his special ability to destroy the card you set last turn (1600/1000)." Covering Fire appeared and shattered. Aliya stuck out her tongue at Lucien as he smoldered.

"Now, Dark Magician, attack Beast of Talwar with Dark Magic Attack!"

The attack ripped through the fiend like a baseball through the living room window.

Raoul: 2450

Galactic Games Captain: 4500

"I'll end there."

The opponent took a calming breath and drew. "Gemini, attack the 'Magical Warrior.'" Before the end of the sentence he had recovered his sarcasm.

Raoul: 2150

Galactic Games Captain: 4500

Raoul didn't even blink as his monster was destroyed. "Is that going to be all?"

"No. I play Share the Pain, sacrificing Vorse Raider. Now you need to choose a monster to sacrifice. And you only have one."

Raoul sighed. "I sacrifice Dark Magician. Now will you end?"

"I end."

The turn didn't take long. As far as anyone else could tell, Raoul was hanging on by a thread. Raoul himself seemed perfectly comfortable.

"I'll set a monster and pass."

His opponent was on the turn like a rabbit on… well, another rabbit. "I play Heart of the Underdog, you know what it does. Now, Insect Knight, attack his monster."

The bug ran forward to have its blade frozen in place as a librarian shushed it. The monster was Royal Magical Library (0/2000).

Raoul: 2150

Galactic Games Captain: 4400

It was only then realized that the opposition had been leaning forward over his cards in anticipation. Now he relaxed back into a more standard position. "Are you so scared you need to hide behind defenses?"

Raoul took the insult easily. "Not really, its just the only card I had. Isn't it strange how no one's ever summoned Blue Eyes when the only card in their hand was Kuriboh?"

"I think I'm rubbing off on him." Lucien said.

"End." The opponent was getting a little excited. This was understandable seeing the stakes. This was the third round of a 32 team tournament. He was on one of eight teams still in the tournament. The next round was the semi-finals. He was thinking: _If we win here, that places us in the top four._

Raoul thought: _If I win here, I get to go to lunch, _and drew. After a moment's consideration he decided that one option didn't deserve thought, not with lunch looming over him. He juggled his weight between one foot and the other.

"Set card and end."

His opponent clearly disdained Raoul's defensive plays. He then flashed a Gemini Elf and drew again. He looked suspiciously at Raoul's face down card and then at Royal Magical Library. Evidently he decided that the library wasn't worth considering and that the face down card was only a little more dangerous.

"I play Non-Spellcasting Area and end my turn." He hoped no one noticed that he hadn't been any more aggressive than his opponent.

One of the librarians was now sitting reading what was probably a dangerous magical tome. It looked just like any other book though. Raoul explained as he drew. "Whenever a spell card is played, Royal Magical Library gets a spell counter." He considered the card in his hand carefully. "And now I think I'll summon Apprentice Magician (400/800)."

There was the loud sound of someone choking on a hoagie roll.

Raoul's opponent stared for a moment and started laughing. "I realize you want to get me to attack it, but with it in attack mode, you'll lose!"

Raoul smiled and risked a quick glance at the score board. His smile broadened. "I'm afraid not. I'll still have a few hundred life points left. And I didn't summon it so you'd attack it. I summoned it for its other effect."

His opponent paused. No one had ever told him that Apprentice Magician had two uses. "And what's that?"

"When I summon it, I can add a spell counter to one of my monsters. So now Royal Magical Library has two."

Now the opponent decided to exercise his astounding card knowledge. "But it needs three counters, right?"

Raoul just kept grinning. "Royal Magical Library needs three. The card I'm about to activate only needs the two. I activate the trap Miracle Restoring. To play this trap I only need to remove two spell counters from my side of the field and I get to special summon either Dark Magician or Buster Blader from my graveyard. Dark Magician is back for an encore (2500/2100)."

The great mage rose from the field and the cheerleaders cheered. A few keystrokes later and the mage wore a grin matching his master's. It completely ruined the image. Evidently it didn't matter if Kaiba or Industrial Illusions as a whole held a grudge; someone in the control booth didn't like Yugi or his signature monster.

Either that or some higher up gave orders to have all major monsters mimic their owners.

Luckily Raoul couldn't see his monster's face, but he did have to stop smiling in order to declare the next part of his move, and that solved the problem. "Dark Magician attacks Gemini Elf. I'm sick and tired of those ladies."

The cheerleaders remained oblivious. Then again knowing Raoul, he might not have meant them. Lucien couldn't have rubbed off on him that much.

(Incidentally, later that day, the first successful brain transplant took place. The surgery was done on a lab rat. After two minutes it was deemed insane. After three it was considered to be dead. It stopped running not long after.)

The two elves were swept away on the tide of dark magic.

Raoul: 2150

Galactic Games Captain: 3800

"Now I'll end my turn."

A commentary began on the sidelines.

"Tension is high after the masterful moves of the combatant Raoul, representing The Card Shop. His opponent does not look in the least anxious although he is sweating profusely which some might suggest is a sign of anxiety. However this commentator-"

"Lucien?"

"-is being glared at by the wonderful young-"

"Shut up."

The captain of Galactic Games began his turn. "I set one card face down and have Vorse Raider attack Apprentice Magician."

Raoul: 650

Galactic Games Captain: 3800

Raoul dug a card out of his deck. "I special summon a face down monster."

His opponent nodded. Now he was in familiar territory. "Insect Knight, attack the face down."

The final Apprentice Magician shattered and a card appeared, face down.

Shocked, the opposing captain blinked. "I could have sworn you were going to summon your last Old Vindictive Magician."

Raoul did his best to look mysterious. "Maybe I just did."

The captain just about hacked up a lung. "Of course you just did! What else is there for you to summon? In any case I end my turn."

Raoul drew a card and glared at it as if daring it to tell him that it wasn't actually what he had wanted. It wasn't.

"I'll just have Dark Magician attack Vorse Raider."

Raoul: 650

Galactic Games Captain: 3200

"I'll end."

Quickly, the captain of Galactic Games drew his next card and revealed it to be Tri-Horned Dragon. He drew another card as Heart of the Underdog glowed. "To begin the turn I activate my trap, Soul Resurrection. This continuous trap special summons one normal monster from my graveyard in defense mode. Now it carries the side effect that the chosen monster must remain in defense mode, but it remains the perfect way to get a free tribute. So I will special summon the Vorse Raider you just destroyed in defense mode (1900/1200)."

A vaporous version of Vorse Raider appeared on the field.

"And now, I sacrifice my Raider and Insect Knight for the mighty Tri-Horned Dragon (2850/2350)."

A shroud of darkness cascaded over Raoul's opponent's side of the field and out of it rose the dragon. Disconcertingly the shadows extended beyond the dragon, all the way through to Raoul's side of the field. Lights flickered. Raoul shivered.

Lucien gazed on in horror. This couldn't be happening. Not here, not now. But it wasn't quite dark enough to be a shadow duel, was it? Plus, the lights were still on, just flickering. _I hope I'm imagining things. _

The captain was grinning, more in charge of the duel than ever. "Tri-Horned Dragon, destroy the Dark Magician!"

Impossibly, the ill-conceived dragon stalked majestically forward to breathe terrible fumes at its target. The violet mage never stood a mango sherbet's chance in a sauna.

Raoul: 300

Galactic Games Captain: 3200

The fumes made Raoul's eyes water and his flesh sting. _What the hell's going on here? _

His opponent wouldn't stop smirking.

"I play Dark Factory of Mass Production, recovering Beast of Talwar and Vorse Raider to my hand as my ending move."

Royal Magical Library had just gotten a counter. Nothing could have mattered less, but in a game where everything mattered, it could mean everything.

Raoul moved to draw a card but his spirit had been broken when his main magician had been destroyed. "I can't win this."

The opponent was sated. "Damn straight you can't."

Lucien wouldn't have it. He stood. "What do you mean you can't win this Raoul? What do you mean?"

Raoul looked down at his captain. "I mean I can't win. What could I draw that would let me win this game?"

Lucien stared him down. "It isn't a question of what you could draw. It's a question of what you will draw." He moved his head to face the other way. Raoul turned to face his opponent. But just as his hand hovered over his deck, Lucien spoke again.

"And Raoul? You will win. You want to know how. Well I don't know how. But I know why. You're going to win because you need to. You need to win for Larron. You need to win for your brother."

Raoul put his hand on his deck and picked up the top card. His hand flew to the field. "I flip summon my face down monster, Magician of Faith and add Tribute Doll to my hand. Now I play the spell card Emblem of Dragon Destroyer. We've got a dragon problem. Bring your sword. I add Buster Blader to my hand. Now I play Tribute Doll and I sacrifice Magician of Faith to special summon Buster Blader (2600/2300)-(3100/2300)."

He bowed his head as the third and final librarian sat down with a book. A triangle of magical bolts formed between the three. Raoul whipped his head up and looked to his monster. "I draw, sending three spellcounters out of play."

He swept his hand down towards his deck and a card came off it into his hand. The shadow and light wavered together and he stared at the card, but not for long. Lucien cast a long look at the news booth down at one end of the area. _They better not have gotten that on film._

But then he looked back. There were more pressing things.

Raoul was about to make his move. "I play Polymerization, fusing Buster Blader with King of the Swamps to create Dark Paladin (2900/2400)-(3400/2400)."

"Dark Paladin, give that dragon a one way ticket to the magical dimension."

Raoul: 650

Galactic Games Captain: 2650

The shadows fluxed and faded, the lights were back in full. The captain's hands shook. Raoul had ended but he had yet to draw a card. Finally something dawned on him and he looked toward his deck in horror and drew. "I set a card. I summon Vorse Raider (1900/1200) in attack mode. I end."

Raoul drew, not looking at his card. "Dark Paladin, attack it."

Still struggling, his opponent smiled. "I chain, Rising Energy. I discard Beast of Talwar to increase Raider's attack by 1500 (3400/1200)."

The two monsters clashed and both fell. The field was bare but for the spells and Royal Magical Library, its lone librarian glowing softly. Raoul looked at the card in his hand for the first time; Mystical Space Typhoon.

His opponent drew. "I play my last Dark Factory of Mass Production. I add Gemini Elf and Beast of Talwar to my hand. I summon Gemini Elf and end."

The silence was only broken by the occasional 'click' of a camera. Raoul looked at his card and sighed. "I play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Non-Spellcasting Area."

A whirlwind struck with lightning precision, blowing the spell into oblivion. Again the third librarian sat, and again the triangle was completed.

Raoul was ready, his hand a bare inch above his deck. "I draw." The card leapt to his hand and his fingers closed around it. "I play Magical Dimension! I sacrifice Royal Magical Library and special summon the great mage Dark Magician of Chaos (2800/2600). In accordance with the laws of the Magical Dimension I now destroy the Gemini Elves. Dark Magician of Chaos, finish this!"

The chaos mage appeared before the captain. Swiftly he tapped the human on each shoulder with his stave as if to knight him before blowing him into oblivion.

Raoul: 650

Galactic Games Captain: 0

The captain collapsed onto the door of the booth, holding it for support as the crowd erupted and the cheerleaders daintily vaulted the bar separating them from their latest beau.


	24. Regarding the Forgotten Art of Sleep

Tournament of Souls Chapter 24

Lunch Break

(And various other events of varied interest)

"IT'S A SWORD, said the Hogfather. THEY'RE NOT _MEANT _TO BE SAFE."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raoul came down from the duel station and went straight to the cooler. Aliya rolled her eyes.

"You do realize that we can go get lunch now, right?"

He blinked as his hands reached down and began to un-wrap a protein bar. "Yeah, so?"

"You're hopeless."

Lucien watched with amusement. Suddenly the room went dark. There was a brief moment of universal panic before everyone realized that there were no creatures waiting to eat them. At least they realized that if such creatures were there, they were just as scared of the dark as anyone else. Lucien chuckled at the reactions of those around him. Just because he had been scared out of his wits when he considered the potential cause of the blackout didn't mean he couldn't laugh at everyone else who did the same thing with less information.

His attention was then seized by the judge, who had just gotten off the company phone. The judge coughed a few times until some helpful audience member shouted,

"Yo, everybody! Shaddup! The suit wants to talk t' yall."

Said audience member was missed by a bewildered and stern but grateful glance. While it was intended for him, it ended up aimed at a young lady behind Raoul who promptly stopped trying to get him to sign various items of paraphernalia and clothing.

The judge spoke.

"Well, it seems that we are having some technical difficulties. Now this was going to be everyone's lunch break but now it is going to be the end of Day 1 of the tournament. Lodgings have been procured for all the contestants remaining at a local hotel. Transportation will be provided. The bus leaves in one hour. Food is being supplied due to the inconvenience. Lunch will be found in the food court, in order to get a meal you need just tell the person at the cash register your name and signature card. Or in the case of some," Here the judge cast a significant glance in the general direction of Lucien, "gem color. Dinner and breakfast will be provided at the hotel, by the hotel. Enjoy your evening."

The judge looked at the note card he had concealed in his hand, puzzled. Then Mr. Dongard's voice came over the speakers.

"Enjoy your afternoon."

That time it sounded like an order which should have had an 'or else tacked onto it. Aliya said it.

"Or else what?"

The Card Shop team, rounded up, cracked up. Half of it, rounded up, quietly looked puzzled and led the way to the food court.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The food court had power and Raoul took full advantage of it. He had in front of him a cheese burger, two mini pizzas, a large chocolate milkshake, and buffalo chicken wings.

Aliya had a salad. Lucien wasn't hungry. But he had promised his friends the details of what had happened a week before. So he told them all about that terrible duel. Every card played, every relative lost, but not every hate accumulated in the depths of his heart.

It didn't take long. After awhile Lucien moved off to see if he could find something to eat. He didn't really care about food at this point, he could eat at the hotel. His real reason was that his friends wouldn't talk to each other or anyone else while he was sitting there.

And he was right. As soon as he was out of earshot, Raoul spoke.

"So what are we going to do?"

"What do you mean?" Replied Aliya, cocking her head to one side.

"About Lucien, about the bitch who killed Larron and his entire family, about everything."

She sighed. "I don't know Raoul. What can we do?"

Raoul acted his words out with vigorous hand motions. "I don't know but we bloody well better do something. Lucien's going to go ballistic as soon as anything at all happens, he won't even bother thinking about consequences. Did I ever tell you about the time right after Lucien's mother got divorced?"

Aliya was shocked. She thought she'd known everything about Lucien. "No, you haven't. What happened?"

Raoul grimaced. "Well to put it simply, someone called me fat. Now at the time I probably was a little on the heavy side. This was years ago." He added that last comment as she started to giggle. "In any case, Lucien had just come by to meet me after school let out and he heard. He was furious! I'd learned to take it as a joke but Lucien wanted a fight, right then and there. And this guy was as then as we are now, Lucien wouldn't have stood a chance. I had to drag him away. But he still tried to brain the guy with a rock from about ten yards."

"Did he hit?"

"Do you really think Lucien could throw a rock thirty feet? Heck, I still don't think he can throw a rock thirty feet! He missed by a foot. I'd never seen him do anything near that athletic."

Aliya's brow furrowed. "I'll remember to stay on his good side then."

"Wise decision, but what will we do if he decides to go after her alone?"

"What do you mean? We'll stop him of course."

He shook his head. "It's not that easy. I'm not ashamed to say that Lucien is smarter than me. I'm fairly sure he's smarter than you too. He'll think of a way to outwit us and get to her unless we have something set up to stop him."

"What will we do, set up trip wires?" Aliya's voice dripped sarcasm.

Raoul nodded. "Idea #1: Trip wires."

By the time the hour was up and it was time to board the bus, they had thought of six ideas and rejected seven.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The tournament organizers had really splurged this time. While it was only a three or so star hotel, each duelist had their own room. Admittedly they were single rooms, but the fact remains that they paid for twelve rooms. After dinner they had all been reminded by a series of custom Industrial Illusions sticky notes that they were allowed to alter their decks before the next day.

In order to take full advantage of this, all three team members had gathered in Raoul's room and all three had all of their cards with them. They lay sprawled out on the floor flipping through each other's card binders.

As they flipped, a heated debate was in progress.

"They're bound to have cards we need!" Raoul pled.

"I see no reason to go outside the team for cards." Lucien insisted stubbornly. "Plus, who would we ask? The very person who we came here to defeat? I think not."

"We don't need to go to her. Or even her team. There are two other teams in competition you know."

"They could easily have been influenced by her."

Aliya sighed and looked up from a binder. "There are several duelists who've been eliminated that are staying the night at this hotel."

Lucien's eyes snapped towards her. "Which ones?"

Aliya's eyes rolled skyward as she thought. "Well there's all of the Galactic Games team…"

"Never."

"I wasn't going to make you." She tapped a finger on the side of the binder. "The rest are mostly teams made up of people old enough to drive who were planning on spending the night anyhow."

"And how would you go about contacting these people?"

"Well, we could call internally on the hotel phone."

Lucien considered, completely ignoring Raoul's exaggerated eye rolls.

"And you want to do this?"

"Yes." Replied Aliya patiently.

"Very well. I'll leave it up to you."

Lucien retreated into the bathroom. When he emerged, Raoul had returned from a trip to the front desk to discover which rooms housed duelists that were no longer in the tournament and he and Aliya were just beginning to call rooms. After the third call they had found a team captain who was awake and willing to trade. A few short minutes later a knock came on the door.

Aliya welcomed their guest and gestured to Lucien who began handing the captain card binders. The captain handed a knapsack to Lucien and before long each team captain had a pile of cards they wanted. After glancing through each other's stacks, the other captain was satisfied but Lucien insisted on altering a few cards. The trade complete, the captain left with his cards and Lucien divided the stack of new cards, keeping a large one for himself, a larger one for Aliya, and handing Raoul only a few cards.

Wide eyed, Aliya looked through her pile and Raoul watched enviously. "Why'd she get so many cards?"

"Our friend had many cards for her strategy. He had few for yours." Lucien used 'our friend' as another person might use any given personal pronoun. It was generic and unfelt.

Lucien took his stack of cards and began substituting them in for the ones his deck already contained. He wouldn't lose.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hours later, each of them had returned to their separate rooms. Raoul was half asleep- he had stuck a door jam under Lucien's door so that while it wouldn't stop him from getting out, it would probably make some noise. He'd put the new cards in his deck. He'd decided to trust Lucien on some of the changes that he wouldn't normally agree with.

At a ridiculous hour there was a knock at the door and a rasping sound. Raoul got up and tip-toed towards the door, hoping not to alert the nocturnal prowler. Having reached the door, he slammed it open and leapt out. No one was there.

Bemused, Raoul stepped back into the room and in doing so stepped on an envelope. The message inside was neatly typed.

We offer to you, Raoul Cooper, a singular opportunity.

We have rare cards which fit your deck perfectly. Come to us and you may receive them. We do not pretend that this is a free service. You will have to duel for the cards.

As a token of our sincerity and evidence towards our promises for more, a single card is enclosed.

Come alone or with company.

The message was unsigned. Raoul looked carefully at the envelope and found that the card was inside a clear plastic case pasted to the inside. He extricated it and examined the card.

"Jeeze," he whispered, "I don't think even Lucien's heard of this card." He looked over his shoulder as if to make sure that Lucien wasn't there before creeping out of his room.

He did his best to be quiet, but a few doors down he tripped on someone's room service tray, left outside to be cleared away in the morning. It didn't clatter much, but a door opened down the hall behind him and Aliya hurried up, fully dressed.

"Where are you going?" She hissed.

He handed her the letter. She hauled him back to her room and flicked on a light to read it. She narrowed her eyes.

"This sounds fishy."

Raoul shrugged. "What could happen? The only people who know what room I'm in are the tournament officials. This is probably some kind of bonus round."

Aliya was still suspicious. "But why you? Lucien's the team captain, he should have gotten it. As a matter of fact, why our team?"

Raoul was getting more excited as ideas presented themselves. "They've probably decided that our team has a better chance. Plus, some other teams probably got it too. And as for why Lucien didn't get it, well, they could have picked random team members. More likely they decided that mine has better form."

An eyebrow was raised. "Better form?"

"Who wants to see a bunch of random monsters kill off opponents quickly? It doesn't put up a nice spectacle. My deck however has a theme. It has class."

"You think they're going to make some kind of movie?"

The African American boy went wide eyed in mock wonder. "They could, you never know. We could be movie stars!" He laughed. "Why wonder about it? There's no risk other than losing a duel or two- and if the other cards are anything like the one they sent with the note, it will be more than worth it."

Curious, Aliya looked around the room. "What was the card they gave you anyhow?"

Raoul put a playful finger to his lips. "I'm not telling. Just wait until you see it in action!"

Aliya sighed. She wasn't going to get this out of Raoul anytime soon and she knew it. "Don't you think we should go to this 'side tournament' of yours? They're probably waiting for you."

"You're not going to make me bring Lucien?"

Aliya laughed, incredulous. "Of course not, he'd make us stay here. Lucien would think it was some kind of trap and say something along the lines of 'Just because it has benign potential does not mean that is in fact benign.'"

Raoul blinked. "I'm just going to take it for granted that you agree with me and not bother figuring out what that means. Let's go."

"Where to?"

Raoul paused on his way out the door. "You know, I have no idea."

"Let's see," said Aliya in mock thought. "What place around here is equipped for this type of mini-tournament?"

Raoul shrugged.

"The convention center, Raoul, the convention center." Explained Aliya as she led the way out the door.

"Oh," mumbled Raoul. "But how are we going to get there?"

Aliya was momentarily stumped but did her best not to show it. "We'll figure that out when we get down there."

Raoul shrugged and followed her out the door.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aliya didn't care where they were going. She just wanted out. She'd been having some weird dreams ever since what had happened to Larron. Tonights had been among the strangest.

_Aliya looked across the dueling field at her opponent. Darkness blocked her face. Aliya had Venus – Agent of Creation, Soul Absorption, Banisher of the Light, and Sanctuary in the Sky in play. Her opponent had Fire Princess, Dancing Fairy, Soul Absorption, and a set card. Aliya looked at her field._

_"I'll pay 500 life points to summon my last Mystical Shine Ball in defense mode and evening the life point count. I'll end my turn."_

_"You really think you can beat me?" Her opponent taunted her. "I'm your greatest opponent. I'm the one person you'll never beat. You may beat Lucien, you may beat Raoul. You can't beat me."_

_"I can try." Aliya's voice quaked._

_"But what happens when trying isn't enough? Don't try, do. Succeed. You've held back for too long, and watch where it will get you. I gain a thousand life points from Dancing Fairy and Fire Princess costs you five hundred. I'm up by fifteen hundred. Now I tribute Dancing Fairy for Saturn – Agent of Judgment, I'm ahead by twenty five hundred. Now I'll activate the trap, D.D. Dynamite."_

_"No…" gasped Aliya._

_"Did you think of that when you sent all your monsters to the different dimension? How many were there again? Five, you destroyed five of your own monsters. Now I'm ahead by six thousand. Ready to be judged?"_

_"I'll win next time."_

_"You'll say that next time. And there will always be a next time, and you'll win the next time, the one after that. No. I'm the only one who can win. Saturn, release your holy judgment."_

_The angel radiated light burning away the darkness and Aliya looked into the face of her adversary; her own._

_"You see, honey, you'll never win. You can't beat the only part of you that can actually play this game. Except it will never be a game for you, not anymore. It will be a life. A life you've lost."_

Aliya shook off the dream as they walked out of the hotel lobby. What she needed to find was a way to get to the convention center. Then she found it. There were two shuttle busses with the hotel logo idling in the parking lot, and one of them had a driver in it.

Five minutes later, they were on their way to the convention center.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, should we call him?"

"I'm not sure. Lucien seems smart. He might not be fooled."

"Lucien won't care."

"It doesn't matter. It's not like we're giving him a choice."

"Its Dongard I'm worried about."

"He's with the company. Why worry about him?"

"You never know. How much have you told him?"

"Enough."

"Enough that he's dangerous?"

"Enough that he can operate."

Somewhere a phone clicked down. Elsewhere a computer monitor flicked off. You could never be too careful. Not with this company.


End file.
